{LIBRARY OF CONGRESS.* 

I i 

J UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, f 



A TRACTATE 



LANGUAGE 



OBSERVATIONS ON THE FRENCH TONGUE, EASTERN TONGUES 
AND TIMES, 

AND CHAPTERS OX 

LITERAL SYMBOLS, PHILOLOGY AND LETTERS, FIGURES 
OF SPEECH, RHYME, TIME, AND LONGEVITY. 



GORDON WILLOUGHBY JAMES GYLE, ESQ. 

OF WEATSBUEY, BUCKS. 
MEMBER OF THE ROYAL INSTITUTION OF GREAT BRITAIN. 



SECOND EDITION, AUGMENTED AND REVISED. 



Grammar is refined Logic. 

Dr. Blair. 




LONDON: 

PUBLISHED FOR THE AUTHOR, BY 

HENEY a. BOIIN, YOEK STEEET, COVENT GARDEN. 
1860. 



■ 



PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION. 



Although the writer of this Tractate should consider 
the preface already prefixed to the first edition of the 
work sufficient, yet on the appearance of a second edition, 
some reason might be expected why material changes have 
been made. 

The author admits with regret that the first edition 
was not so aptly or uniformly adjusted in all its parts as 
consists with such a subject, and he felt he was capable of 
imparting to it that lucidus ordo, which a too hasty publi- 
cation had prevented, although the manuscripts had lain 
by him for many years. 

He has deemed it expedient to recast entirely the 
grammatical sections, and having so done, he commits 
them to the press in the hopeful assurance they may prove 
acceptable to the reader of a composition which includes 
a congeries of philosophical and grammatical observa- 
tions. 

The general principles, which are nearly the same as in the 
former edition, have been further illustrated by the help 
of some authority from comparatively recent publications, 
but which had been only cursorily perused by the author 
of the Tractate, viz. Welsford and Prichard. 

Opinions advanced have been fortified, or addenda sup- 
plied, which might well find a niche in a treatise on gram- 
matical phenomena. 

What the author has derived from the above cited writers 
relates chiefly to the Sanskrit, and its affinity with the 

A 2 



IV PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION. 

Celtic race, an Eastern tribe and kindred with those nations 
who dwell in India, emigrants to the north and south of 
Europe, and from other tongues flowing from that source ; 
and wherever he may have been defective in judgment or 
in aught essential to the enucleation of his subject, he 
has availed himself of casual suggestions, and has duly ac- 
knowledged his tributaries in this work. 

A learned author thought it vain to look beyond Gothic 
for the origin of our language, but had he written in the 
present age of lingual scrutiny, he had admitted also an 
oriental fountain. 

This work has been styled a Tractate, as being in the 
author's estimation less than an elaborate treatise on lan- 
guage, and more than an essay. Still, it contains all that 
is essential to realize the character and object of a book on 
this extensive theme. With this view it has been entirely 
remodelled, and some Chapters have been expanded to 
impart additional interest to what per se may be deemed 
unalluring and arid. 

He trusts then that the supplementary matter will not 
be unacceptable, as bearing due reference to the principal 
aim of the publication. 

The power of Literal Symbols being a constituent part 
of the wide arch of the ranged empire of language, he has 
much augmented this section, deducing proofs and illustra- 
tions from medals, inscriptions, synoptical tables, and also 
from a rare publication known as the Pcecilographia Grseca, 
a production on Greek contractions published in 1807, 
and mainly derived from the Palseographia Grseca of Mont- 
faucon, which was given to the world in 1708. See page 
215 of the Tractate. This he trusts will be useful to the 
Student and Philologer. 

The Chapters on Fragmentary observations on the 
French tongue, and on Eastern tongues and times, are 



PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION. V 

both germane to the subject of language. These he has 
revised and augmented. 

The paper on Figures of Speech has increased a little in 
bulk, but it has been greatly improved in arrangement and 
exposition, and he trusts also in validity and importance ; 
uniting phenomena of grammar with the graces of diction, 
both ancillary to the study of rhetoric. 

The Essay on Rhyme is reprinted with a few addenda 
only, and this the writer thinks may be perused with ad- 
vantage and profit by those who take interest in rhyming 
poetry, the offspring of a Gothic parent. 

Two short tracts on Time and Longevity, are again an- 
nexed, and although the subjects can not be said strictly 
to belong to Language, yet the author deems it not irre- 
levant to have them appended to his brief essay on Tongues 
and Times. 

That on Time gives a precis only of some prominent 
events in bygone ages, and on St. Peter's patrimony at 
Rome, whilst that on Longevity refers to the duration 
of life, (both comprising tellus et humanum genus) and 
especially adverting to the ages of learned men and those 
dedicated to literary and scientific professions. 

As far as regards the purely grammatical part which ter- 
minates with the chapter on Comparison, all the author 
solicits is an ingenuous consideration of the principles and 
evidences advanced, every one of which he feels can be 
amply established, and if grammarians do not concur wholly 
in the conclusions, he thinks they can not overthrow them. 
As they have been considered and matured, he hopes readers 
will judge for themselves, and not merely endorse the 
opinions of routineer proxies. In this conviction the 
writer desires neither to repeal nor modify them. The 
character of this work being illustrative, he relies on 
the verdict of sterling judgment for justification in the 
necessity for the frequent citations made and testimonies 
adduced to support positions. 



VI PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION. 

Although some opinions may be considered theories or 
speculations, yet in a country where erudition is cherished 
it was not consistent with equity or delicacy that they 
should have been encountered with a savage phrenzy, such 
as is rarely displayed in a critical Review, on the first 
edition, whose general reputation is that its moving prin- 
ciple seems to be to endeavour to subvert or discourage 
literature ; teeming with poor (but innocuous) animadver- 
sions in which it delights, having neither inclination, 
power nor magnanimity to suggest improvement, or recog- 
nize merit, humble or exalted. 

But while such reviews indulge thus indiscriminately, 
pourtraying sheer obliquity of mind and judgment in lieu 
of that manly acumen to which they pretend, the critics 
must perceive how much below the dignity of the criticised 
it is to evince either uneasiness or resentment — both as 
easily ec shaken off as dewdrops from the lion's mane." 

These labours and excogitations are again confidently 
delivered to the world, and may it not be considered pre- 
sumptuous in the author to close his preface in similar 
sentiments with those which animated one whose analogous 
yet higher labours were roughly handled in his time, and 
yet withstood the ordeal, and feeling that in this Tractate 
something is contributed to language and philology, he 
dismisses the work with a becoming and dignified tran- 
quillity, " having little to fear or hope from censure or 
from praise." 



PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION. 



In offering the miscellaneous observations contained in 
the accompanying Tractate, it may be expedient to preface 
them with only a few lines ; and, in adverting to what 
first led to the investigations of the subject, the author 
desires to avow that his intention has not been to derogate 
from others, who have been his pioneers in this path of 
literature, but to record his own opinions and conclusions, 
so that if in his humble endeavours a minimum of good is 
discerned, it may not be lost. 

His studious tendencies have been much directed to the 
pursuit of language ; and when he was a member of the 
University of Oxford he formed an accquaintance with a 
gentleman of considerable erudition, but not of either 
University, who had made the English tongue his peculiar 
care. 

For the idea of prosecuting an inquiry and for valuable 
suggestions on this subject, the author is indebted to this 
friend of philological literature, who imbued him with a 
like predilection. The investigations then and subsequently 
made were diligently considered and matured ; and in the 
course of many verbal and grammatical analyses, he thought 
(perhaps immaturely) that some occult treasures and re- 
condite truths in philology and grammar were eliminated, 
and were worthy public consideration. 

With diffidence then this work is delivered to the Press, 
as the result of some research and much solicitude, in 
which it is endeavoured to point out whence may arise 
peculiarities and the sources of language, and the rules of 
grammar. 

The author has not attempted largely to dilate on what 
has been so often before the public ; but he has merely 



arranged under heads, with examples, what he considered 
apposite to the subject, without ulterior pretensions. 

Nor does he offer this compilation as a derivative 
treatise on language, which copious subject has been 
recently undertaken and expounded in profound and labo- 
rious works to the satisfaction of the erudite, deducing 
most of the European tongues and their congeners from a 
common fons et origo, the Celtic ; while the Sanscrit has 
been sifted and winnowed, its arcana unfolded, and a close 
analogy, for the scheme of language is analogical and con- 
vertible, and an affinity in case, gender and structure, are 
shewn to exist in all the dialects spoken in many provinces 
from bound to bound, and from Asia Minor " to the ut- 
most Indian isle Taprobane." 

Perhaps these dead languages, Sanscrit or Hebrew, like 
the first parents, maybe styled fons omnium viventium, and 
to it the antique Celtic owes its origin, and its cognates also 
may be comprised within the Indo-European stock, as shewn 
by synoptical tables of ancient and modern alphabets. 
** It is chiefly with the English that this tractate is con- 
cerned, and in it the author adverts with deference to 
certain laws and canons which have been ruled by some 
who have obtained eminence for their several disquisitions 
on our mother tongue. 

The author trusts to obtain indulgence if he has ven- 
tured on extraneous matter in a theme so unattractive, 
and that the contents bear relation to the subject. 

A brief Chapter on the Computation of time since the 
Christian era has been inserted, which apparently holds 
little analogy with language, but as numeration was in- 
dicated by letters anterior to the adoption of Arabic 
numerals, it was not deemed irrelevant to notice this use of 
them, or to advert to a singular application of a certain 
number which also implies an appellative. 

This led to a digression on the mysterious number in 
the Apocalypse, and proceeds to question and impugn an 



assertion made by a sect of Christians styled Roman Ca- 
tholics, as alien from genuine historical fact. 

It is also hoped that the Chapters on Figures of Speech 
and Rhyme, so amply elucidated by Professor Blair, are 
not misplaced, tending to appreciate and illustrate our 
national bards, models of poesy and reason, who knew no 
concord of sweet sounds half so melodious as common 
sense, and that language and words are the chief creatures 
of men, and the keys of knowledge. 

Verbal philosophy is generally held to be hard and dry 
as dust ; yet in these days of the wide diffusion of polite 
literature it is not without its intrinsic value. 

As in religion what is bones to philosophy is milk to 
faith ; so in philological truths ; " and truth like the sun 
has enlightened human intelligence through every age, and 
saved it from the darkness both of sophistry and error." 

If in some of his etyma or applications the writer may 
differ from his predecessors in this track of verbal indaga- 
tion, he feels that good reasons can be assigned for the 
opinions enunciated, and that in them affiance may be 
reposed, notwithstanding the objections which may rea- 
sonably arise, when submitted to the mental crucible. 

He hopes that typographical errata alone may be found. 
According to modern synthetical and analytical principles 
there may be advanced what has not been fully considered, 
so a space is assigned to substituenda, which will comprise 
remarks, and such errors of press, and omissions, and heed- 
less mistakes as shall have eluded circumspection. 

Should the miscellany contribute anything to lingual 
literature, the author will rejoice ; and he trusts as a firm 
friend and attached to science, and as a member of the 
Royal Institution of Great Britain, he may say without 
hyperbole or reproof — 

J'ai fait un peu de bicn, c'cst mon meilleur ouvrage. 



CONTENTS. 







PAGE 






PAGE 


1. 


Preface to the Seconc 




19. 


Prepositions . 


112 




Edition 


iii 


20. 


Nouns . 


119 


2. 


Preface to the Firsl 
Edition 


vii 


21. 


Adjectives 


126 








22. 


Cases . 


132 


3. 


Introductory Observa 
tions 


1 


23. 


Comparison . 


138 


4, 


Canons 


5 


24. 


Miscellaneous matter 


152 


5. 


Verbs . 


15' 


25. 


On Languages . 


181 


G. 


Copnla — Esse . 
Tenses 


21- 


26. 


On the power of Lite- 




7. 


26- 




ral Symbols . 


199 


8. 


Perfect Tense . 


39 


27. 


On the power of Con- 
sonants 


210 


9. 


Moods . 


41 


28. 


Letters representing 




10. 


Subjunctive Mood 


. 43 




Numerals 


230 


11. 


Gerunds, Supines, Par 




29. 


Anomalies 


233 




ticiples 


52 


30. 


Philology and Letters 


246 


12. 


Aorists and Infinitive 


5 58 


31. 


Fragmentary Observa- 




13. 


To and Do . 


.- 66 




tions on the French 




14 


Have and Of . 


74 




language 


264 


15. 


Articles A and The 


. 80 


32. 


On Eastern tongues 




1G. 


Pronouns . 


. 86 




and times 


275 


17. 


Who, Which; Eela 




33. 


On Figures of Speech 


297 




tives and Antece 




34. 


On Ehyme 


333 




dents . 


. 95 


35. 


On the computation of 




is. 


Conjunctions, Parti 






Time 


364 




ciples, Indeclinable 


i 105 


36. 


On Longevity 


381 



/>t 





ERRATA. 


i*age 24, line 9, runs for uns. 


„ 24, 


, 4, had for has. 


„ 39, 


, 27, participle comes in before past. 


„ 42, 


, 3 & 4, proposition for preposition. 


„ 54, , 


, 13, dispensable for indispensable. 


„ 54, 


, 25, a comma after itnr. 


„ 62, 


, 10, rus for us. 


„ 63, 


, 30, ? to come out, and a comma substituted 


„ 79, 


, 21, after Eegi a semicolon. 


„ 117, 


, 9, no for no\v. 


„ 141, 


,, 30, more for there. 


„ 247, 


, 1, vowels for verbs. 


„ 247, 


„ 2, prie je for prie je. 


„ 255, 


„ 18, and S for as Z. 


„ 278, 


, 4, tenth for sixteenth. 


„ 288, 


, 31, word of omitted. 


„ 319, 


, 7, Hyperbaton for Hyberbation. 


„ 387, 


„ 3, Llano ver for Lanover. 



matter. If the mute arts like sculpture and painting 
address themselves to us, how much more wonderful must 
be the effects of speech, that medium of eloquence, which 
is the queen of the universe, and the mistress of our way- 
ward affections ; it lends beauty to the sublime, which 
Longinus defines, an image reflected from the inward 
greatness of the soul. 

Sanskrit, the great source of Oriental literature, especially 
of the Vedic age, is the parent of almost every dialect from 
the Persian gulf to the China seas, and is the cradle of 
human speech, that is, of inflected language, or diction 
inverted by transposing the prefix ; and from it sprung 
immediately Greek, Latin and Keltic — Sanskrit is the 
refined, whilst Prakrit is the natural or unsifted language. 

A general collective designation for the Germanic tongues 
is Gothic, of which all the northern tongues are ramifica- 
tions. The Frisian is thought to hold the same relation 
to Dutch that the Anglo-Saxon does to modern English, 
which it resembles more than any other, and was the lan- 
guage of the Chauci, who dwelt in the extreme north of 
Germany. Mceso-gothic was the language of the ancient 
invaders of Rome, and the subjects of Alaric and Totila, 
duo fulmina belli ; the Goths settled in Mcesia temp. Valens 
about the 4th century, and were converted to Christianity 
when the Bible was translated into their dialect by Bp. 
Ulphilas. 

The present Jutlanders are held for Danes and not 
Germans, for in the days of Venerable Bede, who died 735 
of our sera, they were the same as the British and the 
Gaelic. 

Galatia is called KtXrtKi?, hence these names are synony- 
mous, and the proper names, 2kv0tjc, T^rrjg, TorOog, 
2»«ju€/>ot, and Cimbri are identical. The modern Galacz on 
the Danube stream, may be the old Kallatis, as much like 
Kelt as Galacz is to Galatse. The Gallic speaking Gothini 



who dwelt contiguous to Sarmatia are described as Kelts 
and Galatae, while St. Jerome says the language of Galatse 
was the same as that of Treves in France. 

The etymology may be yaXa lac, milk, and the Arabic 
Mat life, implying a pastoral life. These people were also 
called Kymeri, Cimmerii, Cimbri. 

The British language in Caesar's time was also Gallic. 
Proximi Gallis et similes sunt. Sermo haud multum di- 
versus. Tacitus, Agrieola. C. xi. 

The similitude between Gallic and Latin is shewn in 
Leo's work, where centenaries of words are given alike in 
form and meaning. 

The Manks is a dialect of Keltic, and is considered to 
be the purest existing modification of that venerable 
language, which is scarcely more artificial than the Malay, 
or those rude languages of the Indian ocean, whose people 
have no other expedient for expressing plurality than by 
reduplication of a syllable, denoting excess. 

Canons respecting Grammatical Construction. 
1. It is not true that vowels do not sometimes assume 
the power of consonants, as y and i lapse into conso- 
nants, when they impel another vowel, and so become 
virtually consonants. 
Although I have treated of vowels under the chapter on 
the power of literal symbols, I shall remark here that all 
vowels are interchangeable. The variety of sounds, which 
we consider as different from the original sound, is merely 
a modification of the first oral a, for with a, we can sound 
all the vowels, voices or vocal sounds. 

All vowels are alike, as will be shewn in the chapter on 
Philology and letters, but with divers variations for the 
sake of sound which forms dialects. 

In symbolical signification, the letter O, (which seems to 
be the first vowel from which all others spring, being a 



circle produced by the earliest form of the mouth when 
any utterance is given) means individual or whole. 

A is a symbol implying motive, and is a diphthong, com- 
pounded of o and i, at least in form. The same may be 
said of e, whose symbolical significance denotes energy, and 
is a compound of a and i, while u is also a compounded 
letter. 

2. It is not true that consonants are without sound, 
for they sound by themselves, as vowels do, and not 
as their name implies con-sonans or 2v/*-$wva. 

3. Or that consonants are interceptions of vowels. The 
distinction of vowel and consonant is a mere gramma- 
tical fiction. In Hebrew and Chinese all words 
begin with a consonant. The sounding of a conso- 
nant does not intercept the voice. 

Walker defines a consonant to be an interruption or in- 
terception of the effusion of the vocal sound, arising from 
the application of the organs of speech to each other. 
They are styled elements, as every articulation derives 
from them, and in combination they produce words and 
sentences, the constituents of discourse or aToix^ta, 
elements, from which arise words, and to which are all 
words reduced. Language is composed of matter and form, 
the matter being articulate, while the form is its meaning. 
Hence it is a picture of the universe, where words are as 
the figure or images of all particulars. The elementary 
sounds, the origin of all language, are winged as thought, 
and so are justly styled inta irTzpoivra. 

4. It is not true, that the article in Greek has affinity 
to the definite article the in English. The Greek 
article denotes only the gender, and the English 
article is the same as the relatives, who, that, which, 
and are all synonymous. 

5. Or that the Latin tongue banished the article, or has 
no article as Hermes asserts. The Latins affixed it to 



the noun as Domin-us, which termination is the same 
as oq, the article and relative also. In fact, all words 
ending in as, es, is, os, us, urn, are the same, mere 
dialectical varieties. (See Richardson's Dictionary, 
Section 3,) answering to 6c, V) o. Hence Dominus 
is not a pure substantive, but a concrete, because it 
coalesces with the article og, which gives it meaning. 
The article the is also the relative as the man, or man 
whoj and was used for it. Ex. : St. Paul was the highest 
preacher the was in holy Church. St. Paul the is the 
highest Lehrer the we habbeth inne haelig kirk. Ealle 
tha the hyt gehyrden — all they who heard it. Fader ure 
thu the in heofunum eart. Rushworth's Lord's Prayer, 
a,d. 900. Thaem the scyldigat with us — them who tres- 
pass against us. In Gothic, edited by Junius — atta unser 
thu in himinam. In Saxon by Marshall — Feeder ure thu 
the eart on heofenum. — In all these instances the is the 
relative who, and is used for the Saxon thaet or tha, 

6. It is not true that the article always precedes the 
subject. Ex. : Virtue is its own reward. Man that is 
born of a woman. But the subject of a proposition in 
Greek, is always that to which the article is prefixed ; 
but there are propositions in which no article is in- 
troduced. 

7. Or that the euphonic article an may not be applied to 
a word beginning with H aspirated, as an Historian — 
or may not precede the power of diphthongal ?/, which is 
ewe, as an European ; or the h aspirated preceded by w, 
as an wholesome root. 

8. Or that the English enunciate the h before the w, 
as in what, when. Dr. Lowth observes we ought to 
sound h before the w, which is not true. The aspirate 
should be sunk, and the words wet and whet be 
similarly enunciated; but we do not preserve that 
pronunciation, which gives h a power before the w \ 



8 

9. Or that the English genitive s is derived from the 
Saxon is; or that the s is a contraction of her or his. 
Es may be a contraction of is or us, formerly used for 
plurals, which was eth pluralised. Penelope her web 
was wove by herself. This is the Greek genitive case, 
which agrees with the Saxon genitive in three of its 
declensions. It is adopted in modern English, which 
is a dialect of Saxon, its symbolical signification and 
notes the efficient cause. The symbol e is the origin 
of all inflection in Greek, Latin and English. 

10. Or that he, she, his, her, him, who, whom, whose, 
' were originally confined to rational existences or 

creation. They were mere attributes of distinction 
and refer to inanimate objects, and are therefore not 
masculine nor feminine. 

11. Or that when applied to irrational objects they 
personify these objects. The pronoun its is not found 
in either Testament, instead of the possessive its, his 
and her were used. These words applied to inanimate 
nature are properties of poetry and rhetoric, and not 
of grammatical art, as He that pricketh the heart, 
maketh it to shew her knowledge. 

12. Or that all nouns are of the third person, except 
when they are in the apostrophic or vocative case. 

13. It is false doctrine to assert that when the person is 
expressed, the verb is of necessity inflected. It is not 
so, unless the sentence be emphatic. Non far quello 
in Italian, do not that. Sic et tu facere, do thou 
likewise. Hermes injudiciously asserts that cases 
are not derived from prepositions understood, but 
from the verb's essence, which is not the fact, because 
no verb can govern a case — all regimen is in the pre- 
position. A nominative can not be called a case — it 
is the substantive uninfected, and may be used with- 
out a verb. Ex. : The prophets ? where are they ? 



The Lord — he is God. In all inflected languages, 
personality is determined by the termination, but in 
a natural language like English, personality is sym- 
bolised by its own attribute of specification, and 
rejects every other. 

14. It is not true that a change of person is inadmissible 
in one and the same period. Ex. : Paradise Lost, IV. 
v. 724. " Thou also mad'st the night, 

Maker omnipotent, and thou the day," 
&c. and the following lines. 

Virgil uses this license, Eneid 10. Having employed 
nefas in the accusative, he then proceeds to use the nomi- 
native without any interval, 

" Csesa manus juvenum fsede, thalamique cruenti." 

The Greeks did the same as is found in Aristotle, Rhe- 
toric, avayica ayaOa dvai radej in the accusative, and 
immediately after evSaifjiovia, &c. in the nominative. 

The power of speech is a faculty peculiar to man, but 
how often do we pervert it : grammarians say we supplies 
the place of men. This is not so, it illustrates this rule. 
It is a figure of rhetoric, a change of person which has a 
peculiar effect in this passage. 

Again in Virgil, " Terra tremit, fugere ferae." 

A11 instance in Spenser reinforces also. He hath his 
shield redeemed, and forth his sword he draws; where 
two different tenses are comprised in one sentence. 

15. It is unfounded to say that a double nominative 
is ungrammatical or inelegant, on the contrary it is 
according to the occasion, which calls the second 
nominative into being elegant and rhetorical. Some- 
times in imitation of other languages the pronoun is 
suppressed, as, Forasmuch as it hath pleased God, &c. 
and hath preserved you, &c. Where he is omitted 
with elegance, although the antecedent God, is in 
the oblique case. This omission abounds in Latin — 



10, 

Ain 'tu te illius invenisse filiam ? Inveni et domi est. 
Plautus Epidicus A. v. sc. 2. 

16. It is not true that interrogatories are always ade- 
quate to ascertain the nominative case, or the subject 
of a proposition. Sometimes infinitives understood 
supply the place of the nominative. Misled by this 
false principle, grammarians have erred. In the natural 
order of elocution the subject precedes the copula, but 
when the proposition is interrogative, hypothetical, ex- 
clamative or imperative, the subject follows the copula. 
Authors even in declarative propositions, frequently 
transpose the subject to diversify the style, which is 
allowable, provided no ambiguity or obscurity arise 
from it ; but this transposition requires judgment. 

17. It is not true that whom always follows than, where 
the personal pronoun, if substituted, would be in the 
nominative case, or that than always follows the com- 
parative. Ex. : I am more contented without them. 
Have you more besides these ? I am less deceived 
besides her. See under Comparisons. 

18. Or that lesser and worser were originally compara- 
tive : they were employed for less and worse positively, 
and were used for much and very ; as more braver for 
much braver. 

" The Duke of Milan, 
And his more braver daughter." 
Here more is not comparative, but positive. 

19. Or that the comparative degree is restricted to two 
persons ; as, more than us all. 

20. Or that the positive is not a degree as well as the 
comparative and superlative, as Hermes asserts. It is 
applied when equality or inequality are expressed; 
as, He is as learned as you are. 

21. Or that the adjective is improperly termed noun 
adjective. This term is more philosophical than Dr. 



11 

Lowth will admit ; and owes its application to the 
juxta-position of two substantives: as ox-stall. 

22. It is not true that the adjective is of necessity con- 
verted into the adverb when it may with more ele- 
gance be referred to the subject or object of the pro- 
position, or modify the subject or object. Two 
adjectives are superior to one, and equivalent to any 
adverb ; as, He was a veray parfit gentil knight. — 
Chaucer. 

23. Or that is, was, doth, does, and similar termina- 
tions were originally restricted to the singular num- 
ber : as, my people is foolish, which is written for are 
foolish. Th was not confined to singularity, which 
Dr. Lowth does not seem to recognise ; as, All joy, 
tranquillity and peace, even for ever, doth dwell. 

24. It is erroneous that the termination eth is restricted 
exclusively to the solemn style. It is common in old 
writers passim for singular and plural. 

25. It is notorious that be and were are not appropriated 
exclusively to the so-called subjunctive mood. Ex. : 
If there be but one body of legislators, &c. If there 
are only two, these will want a casting voice. — A d- 
dison. Here be and are are reconcileable, and be is 
not in the subjunctive mood ; it is the indicative, and is 
used for variety only. Again, " So much she fears — she 
dare not mourn." — Prior. Her eyes in heaven would 
through the airy region, &c. j that birds would sing 
and think it were not night. — Shahspeare. Here dare 
and were are indicative, and not subjunctive. 

26. Or that be, were, wert, either are or were ever con- 
fined to the pretended subjunctive mood, or arc al- 
ways applied subjunctivcly. 

27- That it is notorious that the English has no moods. 
Are there any moods in any language ? Dr. Lowth 
says the form constitutes the distinction of moods, and 



12 

that in English there is no distinction, which implies 
there is no mood in English. Time is not inherent in 
the verb, and consequently would and should with 
all verbs, without exception, might be similarly ap- 
plied to present and future, as well as to past time. 
Mood, time, number, person, are no parts of the 
verbs any more than case, gender, number, person, 
are parts of the noun. They are the signs of relative 
ideas made absolute by their application. So are par- 
ticles. Aristotle says the verb is made significant 
with time, prifxa lari to irpovrifiaivov xpovov. Now 
time is not an essential appendage to the verb. 

28. It is notorious, and ought to be inculcated that 
the verb is, and ever was, restricted by philosophers 
to. the infinitive, and that it is, and has been, allowed 
to be the first substantive. That there is no more 
than one part of speech, and not eight parts, as is 
taught in elementary books. Esse is the only part of 
speech, and is a substantive. The infinitive is used 
substantively in all languages, the fons et origo lin- 
guarum, and is styled the verbal noun. Existence is a 
universal genus, to which all things at all times may 
be referred, and the copula expresses the general genus, 
and so is termed a verb substantive. 

29. It is notoriety that the present and imperfect tenses 
are convertible, and by consequence that originally 
the first form of the verb answered every purpose of 
communication; and this is found in Greek writers, 
All difference in tenses is philosophical or imaginary ; 
as I eat, or was eating, love or did love. 

30. It is obvious that all the variety of tenses in Greek 
and all other languages is nothing more than a refine- 
ment and modification of the first and primitive form 
of the verb, invented for the sake of discrimination, 
although unnecessary in the philosophy of language. 



13 

Every grammatical accident may be converted into 
another, and the sense preserved. The mode of ex- 
pression depends on the will of the writer. 

31. It is untrue that tense and time are synonymous, 
tense being only the con traction of a phrase ; it is a 
concrete, having subject, copula, and predicate. 

32. So is it that the designation of time is, or ever was, 
involved in the verb or participle. Time is and ever 
has been expressed by a noun or adverb. Time is 
not an essential appendage to the verb. 

33. It is notoriety that the term aorist or indefinite 
never meant tense that could be applied to, or accom- 
panied with the precise time of the energy, its real 
signification being unlimited and unrestricted in ap- 
plication. Aorists may be applied to any period, pre- 
sent, past, or future, without the designation of time. 

34. It is not true that the conjunction disjunctive 
(disjunctions, while they connect sentences, disjoin 
the meaning or set them in opposition) has always 
an effect contrary to the conjunction copulative. 
Ex. : u The King nor the Queen were not at all 
deceived." — Clarendon, 

35. It is untrue that it is contrary to English analogy 
to join have and be to the second, or even the first 
form of the verb : that is, the present and imperfect 
tenses in English, which correspond to the historical 
tenses of other languages and to the two aorists of 
the Greek ; as, I have him see. Have to bin, is an- 
cient usage. Have I not be ? That I may gone. — 
Romance of K. Arthur. Gif I had go — for if I had 
gone — and now my face may bin hid. — Gower.Conf. 
Amantis, B. v. Be and do were formerly used as parti- 
ciples. For what fyre is such love I can not sene, or 
where becometh it when it is go. Here go is used 
for gone. 



14 

Trust wel that al the conclusions that have be 
founden. — Chaucer. 

36. It is a mistake or a misprision of terms to say, that 
to placed before the verb is an exclusive sign of the 
infinitive mood, philosophically speaking. It is found 
before the adjective verbs (bid, dare, read, make, see, 
hear, feel, act, &c, are so styled). 

These verbs are often used without to ; as dare, defy, 
swear, go, &c. Bid him run — in every mood, which no 
grammarian or philosopher can deny. Ex, : I do or 
to love, and so through the tense. Do and to are 
identical, for a solution of which see chapter on Do. 
I dare love, means I dare to love. Hence it is the 
infinitive mood. The particle to, now written too, is 
found in to lost ; been to hard. 

37. The primary verbs, as do, dare, &c, can be omitted 
before the infinitive mood. Ex. : He not denies it — 
which they not feel — I hope I not offend. 

38. It is not true that two negatives are equivalent to 
an affirmative. Two negatives affirm with decision, 
and strengthen the affirmative in Greek and French. 
The words used elliptically for negations in French 
are pas and point, but they are not so, deriving from 
passus and punctum. Old writers used a double ne- 
gation; as, Ne appear eth not to hem. — Sir J. Man- 
deville. And Milton says, "Nor did they fierce pains 
not feel. Ne notes the absence of that to which it 
refers, which abstracted or taken away nothing re- 
mains. Not in the least — not at all, are simultaneous 
phrases. 

Negatives cannot express any abstract idea of non- 
entity, because no such power of abstraction extends 
to the human mind. 

39. It is erroneous that the subject of a proposition, 
when transposed, becomes the predicate, as Hermes 



15 

alleges, to support which position is to maintain that 
a part contains the whole. The predicate and sub- 
ject are occasionally inverted, but Mr. Harris thought 
in his Hermes that the predicate is the converse of the • 
subject by such an inversion, which doctrine is un- 
true, and has been subverted by Aristotle. 
40. Verbs termed neuter, impersonal, or intransitive, do 
not really exist in language. Omnis motus, actio aut 
passio, nihil est medium. All verbs are active, even 
Esse, which implies motion. Neuter verbs had cases 
after them, but now they are elegantly suppressed. 
As I sat me down. Je me tiens debout. If the energy 
is confined to the subject, the subject only is ex- 
pressed, as, I sit, I sleep. All intransitive verbs are 
neuter, but neuter means neither active nor passive, 
and if English has no passive, where is the neuter 
verb ? The fact is, verbs are neither active nor pas- 
sive, but are in a state of rest ; and voices import no 
more than the natural and inverted form of the sub- 
ject and object for variety. 

Abstract ideas, the shadows of reality, are unphi- 

losophical, while signs of tenses may be dispensed 

with, as hostile to nature and analogy. 

The positions advanced in these canons are repeated in 

the tractate, and are evolved in the chapters assigned to 

their consideration, to which the reader is referred. 

On Verbs. 

Verbs for convenience have been grammatically me- 
thodized under four species, substantives, attributes, defi- 
nitives, and connectives. 

A verb expresses energy, and all energies are attributes, 
when the energy is contingent, and not confined to the 
subject. The third person is not varied, but depends on a 
verb or participle understood. When we speak intensively, 
the verb is varied, as Go, Let him go ; but when the verb 



16 

is not varied in the third person singular, it is to be con- 
sidered of the infinitive mood, and governed by a verb un- 
derstood. Ex. : Unless he wash my feet, he hath no part 
with me ; that is, unless he doth wash. 

The three forms of a verb are radical, the particle, as 
loving, and participle past, as loved. The conjunctive 
form of a verb. Ex. : "Were these letters to fail — perhaps 
it were to be wished. It is used for the auxiliary ; as 
What a school has been opened. They affirmed it were an 
injustice. 

The auxiliary is joined, with other verbs, as may, can, 
&c. The verbs bid, dare, read, make, see, feel, &c. are 
similarly used, and are styled adjective-verbs. 

The substantive-verb is, to be, Esse, to which all are 
reduced. Verbs, and, of course, all parts of speech, are 
formed out of nouns, and were nothing but nouns, as the 
Hebrew evinces, the rudest of all written languages, where 
the verb has a pronominal termination, which was itself a 
mere noun. In Armenian the substantive love is ser, 
which, combined with the verb, iem, I am, makes ser-iam, 
I love or am loving. E or est is like the est in Latin 
and Greek. 

In the Arabic family verbs are composed of a root of 
two or three letters and a personal pronoun. In the San- 
skrit there is a verbal root joined to the substantive- verb. 
A verb, after all, is only a noun combined with a pronoun. 
The ancient form is thought to be in m, but some think o. 
Eo or ego is the suffix. 

In all Oriental tongues this is the case; and in the 
learned languages, which derive so immediately from 
Keltic and Sanskrit, in Dr. Prichard's view of it. 

Grammarians say, mixed words, their meaning termi- 
nating in themselves, include both action and passion, and 
admit no object after them, as he stands, sleeps, subsists, 
&c. ; but a verb active must have an agent to act, and an 
object on which to act. We can not say the house is 



17 

building, or the street is watering, as Doth house and 
street are incapable of acting, and must have agents to 
build and water. 

The verb to love has been injudiciously introduced as a 
model of conjugation; being a mental affection, it will not 
admit all varieties of expression given by grammarians. 

Primary verbs, that is, the auxiliary placed before the 
invariable mood, or participles, mark the tense ; as, I do 
love — did — am teaching. The antecedents mark some- 
times a whole sentence ; as, I came in time, which is the 
main business. 

Personality is the index of the subject, all other words 
are accessories ; it is the type of the real substance, and 
other terms are properties belonging to it. 

The designation of time is not in the province of verbs. 

Some verbs are said to be neuter, signifying no sort of 
action, as sedet; intransitive, signifying action, but such as 
do not pass from the agent to any other thing, as prandere, 
to dine, and these become transitive, and as such are not 
distinguished from active verbs. 

Verbs deponent have no active signification, and are 
taken passively. 

A verb is intransitive when the agent and object coin- 
cide ; as, he walks, &c. 

Dr. Lowth styles all intransitives neuter verbs, but 
neuter means neither active nor passive. In this phrase 
A loves B, we have the energiser, the energy, and the sub- 
ject, and sometimes the energy keeps within the energiser, 
and passes to no extraneous subject ; as A walks. 

It is not infrequently that an intransitive verb assumes 
the power and activity of transitive, when it admits the 
same syntax and acquires the same power of government. 
Virgil applies the verbs trepidare and ardere in this light, 
and Horace uses sudare causas. 

We are taught that active verbs require an accusative 

c 



18 

case, while neuters require none. Now transitive verbs 
have both an active and passive signification, as Scipio con- 
quered Hannibal; that is, Hannibal was conquered by 
Scipio. 

The former is the natural order, and corresponds to the 
active .voice of the Latin ; the latter is an inversion, and 
answers to the passive. 

Transitives may become intransitive verbs, but intransi- 
tives can never become transitives, or be used intran- 
sitively. 

The English has no passive verb; where then is the 
neuter? Verbs are neither active nor passive; they are 
in a state of rest. 

Sum and sim were used by the Latins as formatives of 
the passive voice, joined to the participle past, the tense in 
the active voice deriving from eo — poss — sum. 

Most of the Greek verbs had a neutral as well as an 
active and passive sense, which is oftener expressed by the 
active than the passive voice. 

The Greek middle voice was intended to express parti- 
cular meaning. Doing anything generally was expressed 
by the active voice, but the middle was used with a dis- 
tinct reference to the agent. 

In fact, what is meant by all these voices is a mere 
grammatical fiction, importing no more than the natural 
and inverted form of the subject and object, introduced 
for the sake of variety. This remark extends from the 
primeval languages of man to every dialect spoken to this 
period. 

Active verbs are said to become neuter by Hermes ; as 
A knows not how to read, implying deficient energy or 
attribute. 

The Welsh is said to have a passive voice, and Grimm 
says that the Mceso-Gothic alone of the Teutonic tongues 
preserves any remains of a passive or middle voice. 



19 

We think that verbs auxiliary, neuter, and impersonal, are 
improper appellations, and hostile to common sense. All 
verbs vulgarly termed neuter have been, and are still, 
when occasion requires, used in an active signification. 
Abstract ideas are improperly so named, and many words 
are barbarous appellations, alien to nature and analogy. 
Even signs of tenses ought to be exploded, and verbs im- 
personal put into the same category with verbs neuter. 

Injuria factum itur, an injury is about to be done, says 
A. Gellius, B. x. c. 14, and B. viii. c. 1. This is styled a 
neuter passive. Again, Vapulant pueri a prseceptore. The 
word vapulo derives from a-rroWvu) — pereo, and it means 
also doleo-ploro. The v is only the digamma, yawoXu. 

We conclude, therefore, that there are no neuter verbs 
in any language, all are active, even Esse. Neuters had 
cases after them, but now they are elegantly suppressed, 
as, K I sat me down and wept." s< He laid him down the 
lubber fiend.' 5 — Milton. Je me leve ; je me tient debout. 

Away then with verbs neuter, which have for ages lulled 
the sleeping tribe. 

iC Omnis motus actio aut passio, nihil est medium." 

Verbs neuter never existed in any language any more 
than verbs impersonal, which have their nominatives, as 
Non te hsec pudent — Quern neque pudent quicquam. And 
in the phrase Poenitet me fratris, it is only Poena fratris 
habet me. The same in French, Pai honte de mon frere, 
that is, La honte de mon frere me fait peine. 

The verb impersonal is thought to have no nominative 
before it or him, and the word it, or there is, is commonly 
his sign, as decet, it behoves — oportet aliquem, there must 
be somebody. Should it have neither of these words 
before him or it, then the words which seem to be the nomi- 
native case shall be such case as the verb impersonal will 
have after him or it, as me oportet, mihi licet. Est adolescen- 
tis. Statur a me, qui agitur, qui or quomodo vales ? How 

c 2 



20 

do you ? The nominative follows the verb to be, but when 
impersonal the oblique case, as mihi licet. 

Every word in a proposition is a distinct noun, and a 
common affix in one language is frequently a common 
prefix in another. The arrangement which constitutes 
the agent in one language, will cause the noun to be 
patient in another, and on occasions the connection is 
supplied by the mind, as Est adolescentis, adolescenti. 
Statur ab adolescente, poenitet adolescentem, &c. 

<( For him, thus prostrate at thy feet I lay." Here Dr. 
Lowth says, it is used for lie, and it is so, and classically 
used. Dr. Beattie considers it a barbarism by Pope, who, 
he says, confounds the neuter verb to lie, and the active 
to lay. 

When the subject and object are the same person, the 
object is elegantly suppressed, as Move nurse — -lay down 
dog — for lay thee down. Hence the object maybe expressed 
or suppressed at will, or necessity. Sit thee down, lie 
thee down, are common in English and French — assied- 
toi — coucbe-toi — they say also, asseyez P enfant. 

Words then in effect have no government, the construc- 
tion of words being entirely dependent on national com- 
pact, or the custom of the learned, to whom we are in- 
debted for every excellence in diction. These examples 
reinforce the position. 

The rules of our holy religion, from which we are 
infinitely swerved. — Tillotson. 

Was entered in a conspiracy. — Addison. 

To vie charities and erect the reputation of one man on 
another. — A tterbury. 

To agree the sacred with the profane Chronology. — 
Temple. 

How would the God my toils succeed. — Pope, 

I must premise with these three circumstances. — Swift. 

Dr. Lowth objects to all these sentences, but what such 



21 

authorities have established, becomes the language of the 
country — and language is no more than compact. 

On the Copula or Verb Esse. 

Sum and dfit are the universal copula of all verbs and are 
equivalent to yaw, the root of yivofiai, yiu), yivu), yaho/mai, 
&c. To be is called the substantive-verb, it is existence, 
the universal genus to which all things at all times may be 
referred, for the copula expresses the general genus, and 
hence its name verb-substantive. 

This copula sometimes refers to several subjects taken 
individually, then the copula may be singular, but taken 
collectively it should be plural ; also when one of the sub- 
jects is plural, it must be plural. 

When several subjects are enumerated copulatively or 
disjunctively, the copula and the relative must be plural. 
This essential in composition has been misrepresented by 
our writers of elements, hence the errors which pervade our 
Greek and Latin institutes. 

Words which have not bent to our grammatical laws 
are termed irregular and anomalous, quae ab analogia 
prorsus recedunt; but how is that possible when they 
existed before the law from which they are said to recede ? 
The verb being on a noun with a pronoun affixed, in- 
cluding in it a connecting preposition, constitutes the real 
copula between the subject and the attribute. Doctrina mei, 
the teaching of me, includes the proposition Ego doceo. The 
personal pronoun is in the oblique case at the close of the 
verb. The nominal subject is a mere accident and agrees 
with personality, and the combined proposition shews 
whether the energy is dividual or individual. 

The union of the personal subject with the copula and 
predicate expresses a proposition, or forms a real proposi- 
tion, and by this union the subject is put in possession of 
an individual energy. 



22 

This union was dictated by nature, for the copula and 
predicate are properties of the subject and constitute 
part of its character. The copula is attracted by the index 
of personality or agrees with it. A substantive, infinitive 
mood or sentence are sometimes expressed without the 
person, and in such case the student is counselled to 
resort to the person which always attracts the copula, the 
rest being in apposition with the person — a tree is known 
by its fruit ; they are in this room with the doors shut, 
clausis foribus nobis non obstantibus. 

Universal language contains but one copula, and that 
one imparts motion ; whether it be applied to the noun or 
the verb its essence is motion, and that motion is govern- 
ment, sometimes implied, and sometimes expressed by a 
preposition. He loves me — he is fond of me. Universal 
copula unites two terms, as John's father. The general 
essence may be omitted, as I go — John's hat. 

When the subject of the proposition is convertible into 
he, she, it, the verb or copula must be singular, as the 
assembly of the wicked has inclosed, and not have inclosed 
me, as in the Psalm. The predicate is inclosed, but every 
individual separately considered does not inclose me, but 
the collective body, hence the verb ought to be singular. 
"When the predicate of a proposition cannot be referred 
to the several individuals virtually contained in a collective 
term, the verb must be singular. 

The verb indicates the energy, definite or indefinite, 
complete or incomplete. 

"When the predicate refers to the subject distributively 
the copula must be plural and relative, but when the sub- 
ject is singular in expression and singular in idea, the verb 
(copula) and relative must be singular. Hence several in- 
finitives are followed by a copula singular with singular 
elegance. To visit the sick, to relieve the distressed, &c. 
is a God-like employment. 



23 

The verb l=rt, according to the Hebrew, is of both numbers* 
and was so in English, as My people is foolish, they have 
not known me. The wages of Sin is death. The lips is 
parcel of the mind. Here wages is the nominative and the 
subject— and people is not a collective general, for the 
attribute foolish is applied to each member, and so requires 
a plural verb. — It should be are. When two substantives 
have the universal copula between, it is a maxim in Greek 
that the substantive preceded by the article is the subject, 
and the one without the article is the predicate, as the 
wages of Sin is death. In Greek the article precedes 
the wages, therefore wages is the subject, but there are 
propositions where no article is introduced. Ta yap 
oxpwvia rrjg a/uLapriag Oavarog. The predicate cannot 
become the subject, the one being a part, the other the 
whole. 

After two substantives the verb may be either singular 
or plural, as justice and bounty procures friends. Rage 
and anger hurrieth on the mind. Honour, glory, immor- 
tality is promised to virtue. The praise and glory of others 
uses to be envied. 

"When the energy is confined to the subject, the subject 
only is expressed, as I sit, sleep, &c. To be and to 
have, being essentially the same, both imply motion — as 
I am at it — he is full aged — I have it — I have made it 
clear. 

In a language where personality is expressed always, as 
I am, existence, individuality, the copula ought not to be 
varied, and such is English ; but writers of elements not 
considering the distinction between inflected and non -in- 
flected tongues, and having been trained to inflection, have 
erroneously supposed that language cannot subsist without 
inflection. 

In all inflected languages equality is determined by the 
termination— hence the subject is justly and elegantly 



24 

omitted, as amat (illam.) But in a natural language like 
English, personality is symbolised by its own attribute of 
specification, and rejects every other, as A loves B. Every 
other has been redundant and unanalogical, adverse to 
philosophy and hostile to common sense. 

Logicians maintain that Esse is the only verb, and 
that all other words, denominated verbs, by extension are 
resolved by the same verb and participle of such word, as 
Currit he was or is running. But such is not the fact ; 
for we say not, she is loving — but she is in love. The verb 
Sum expresses the time and not the participle. 

If Esse affect not the subsecutive term how can any other 
word, termed verb, possess such influence ? The verb esse 
is frequently attended by different cases, according to 
different views of the mind, as Rex erat iEneas. Vestrum 
est dare, vincere nostrum. Boni judicis est facere con- 
jecturam. Magni mihi erunt tuse liters© — of much account 
will be, &c. Me nullius consilii fuisse confiteor — I con- 
fess I formed no plan — Natura tu illi pater es, consilio ego 
— Magnse mihi molestise fuit — it caused me much ennui 
or annoy. 

In these examples, erat does not affect iEneas. Bex 
and iEneas are merely in apposition or concord. Nor has 
est influence over dare, which latter is equivalent to a sub- 
stantive, and is in apposition with nostrum. 

In these examples, the cases are independent on the 
verb esse. Then must all case be independent on other 
words unphilosophically termed verbs. 

Away then with the rule that esse has the same case 
after it as before it, and has always a nominative after 
it unless it be in the infinitive mood. These are instances 
to the contrary. Woe is me — well is him — well is thee. 
Dunelm X. Scriptores, vol. i. 35, writes, Wei his the — Bene 
est tibi. Thou is modern compared to the, spelled thee, 
to distinguish it from the article the, both having the same 



25 

origin. Suffiseth to the, these trewe conclusions. Chaucer. 
— Again, teach, the to worken. Priestley's Grammar 
remarks, p. 104, the verb to be has always a nominative 
after it. This refutes the assertion, " Ero tibi in patrem, 
et tu eris mihi in filium.'^ Lond and the see hen of rounde 
schapp and forme. — Sir J. Mandeville, 

The verb to be, sum, is found in Persian and Sanskrit 
and Keltic. As is the verbal root, whence asmi — esmi — 
ilfii — esum — sum — ys in Keltic; from which the Greek 
and Latin are obviously derived — as is seen by the accom- 
panying paradigm. 

Singular. Dual. Plural. 

Sanskrit. Asmi, asi, asti, Srah, stah, sthah, Small, Stha Santi. 

Greek tlfiif eig, lore, iarov, eaTov. kafxev, tare, siai. 

Latin sum, es, est. sumus, estis, sunt. 

Subjunctive Mood. 

Sanskrit. Syam, syat, syavah. Syavah, syatam. Syama, syata, syati. 

Greek. elrjv, tirjg, elrj. tirjrov, ur\Tt\v. eirjfisv,eir]TS, eirjuav. 

Latin. Sim, sis, sit. „ Simus, sitis, sint. 

Assam, aseet, aseet. „ Asma, asta, asan. 

Essem, esses, esset. „ Essemus, essetis, essent. 

In the Keltic or Gaelic language Taim is I am — 

Ta me, I am, Ta sinn, We are 
ta tu, „ ta sib, ye are 

ta se, „ ta siad, they are. 

In Sanskrit there are two verbs substantive, viz.: Asmi 
which is esse, and is derived from, as its root, and another 
word in Sanskrit whose root is Bhu — whence fuo in Latin 
and (pvu), <pvvaL. Persian, whose ground- work is Sanskrit, 
has budan and am, corresponding to asmi. These verbs 
are defective, and it is singular that the substantive verb to 
be, is irregular in all languages, or defective. 

The Teutonic has ist and beon, hence to be. The Latin 
esse is a combination of these two words, and all derived 
from the Celtic bhu or budan, having its source from the 



26 

Sanskrit ; and in these words are evinced the direct affinity 
between Sanskrit, Greek, Latin, Persian, Sclavonian, 
Lithuanian and Moeso-Gothic. 

Even the verb substantive in Welsh is cognate with the 
Sanskrit Bhu, and the Persian budan, this verb in the 
infinitive mood is Bod. The ending av in Welsh stands 
for am in Erse — the v is equivalent to mh, or is a secondary 
form of m. 

The other tenses of the declaratory verb in Sanskrit are 
inflected from the root B-hoo to be, in which tenses b-h 
is changed into its cognate consonants f and v, and hence 
the compound imitative Latin tenses — fui-fueram, fuissem, 
fuero, as well as the infinitive form of the second Latin 
declaratory verb fore, on whose root they are inflected. 
Greece and Rome substituted lio for zlfii — sum and fui for 
eo, the original form of verbs were in m as esum, inquam, 
instead of eo. 

The affinity between the Western and Eastern tongues 
is such, that it is suggestive of the idea that an Indian 
tribe in its extensive migratory deviations reached Italy, 
and engrafted inflections on the Celtic, whence originated 
Latin idioms — in the same manner as Sanskrit was trans- 
formed into Bengalee, Latin into Italian, and Pictish into 
Anglo-Saxon. 

In German the declaratory verb to be has distinct radicals, 
as ich bin, er ist, wir seyn. Ich war, ich werde, and in 
English this verb contains as many radicals as inflections, 
and it is singular that these very anomalies arise from a 
studious care to prevent confusion. 

On Tenses. 

Tense is the contraction of a phrase and not time. It 

is a concrete, containing subject, copula and predicate. 

A term is a word which limits a combination of ideas to 



27 

one substance. A termination is an adjunct which ex- 
presses every particle and every accident or propriety in 
human speech, it comprehends every nominal accident and 
particle. 

What have been termed nouns and verbs are in fact 
conjugates. In artificial language no simple words are to 
be found. There is an individual, a single, and a dividual 
term, or one shared with another. Every inflection is the 
form of a form, or the contraction of a phrase, and is 
resolved by any language that has not adopted inflection, 
for the essay is a phrase, and the tense by inflection is the 
contraction of a phrase. 

The earliest form of the Greek declaratory verb was 
wholly active, as eo I go, and it is under this form that it 
has lent its aid to all the active constructions of the verbal 
system. Perhaps it was the want of a specific declaratory 
form in the earlier periods of the Greek language that 
provoked the adoption of numerous synonymes, and lastly 
of eoj which added to a considerable affinity of meaning, a 
degree of laconism which the other did not possess, and 
hence it was adopted by the Greeks and imitated by the 
Latins. 

The first departure of language from its natural state 
was the artificial but happy innovation by inflection, which 
is the creature of institution, and was invented for variety 
of sound, and more concise form of expression. In regard 
of sound it may be so, but in the certainty of expressing 
meaning, we do not acquiesce. So aware of this were the 
Greeks, that they retained the preposition and neglected 
the case, considering it no more than a termination. The 
Romans took an opposite course, they slighted the preposi- 
tion, and directed their attention to the case. Hence, 
they were allowed the advantage of concinnity of execution ; 
the Greeks the certainty of expressing the sense. 

When a command is given or a request made, the radix 



28 

of the verb is used, but the sentence is elliptical — Ex. : 
Go thither immediately, is to say, I command you to go — 
a request, as Come to-morrow, is, I entreat you come to- 
morrow. 

The requisite or imperative mood has no first person of 
the singular, because it is absurd to give commands to one- 
self — say Hermes. But if there be a third person, why not 
a first ? As eamus — let we go, that is, sine ut eamus, 
elliptically — as love we is now obsolete. 

Is and has, hath, are continually used for plural and 
singular, and are so used analogically, and like was and 
were are employed for variety. Wast and wert are mere 
technical inflections of two different radicals both in the 
indicative mood. It were is employed for it is ; the root is 
the Saxon worthan, as woe worth the day — woe be to the 
day. The same is worden in German, and is used by 
Chaucer. See Ezek. xxxv. 2. The trees hath leaves, 
and thus is mankind or manbrode of matrimony sprung. 
— P. Ploughman. Here hath and is are used plurally. 
" Those who wish for distinction forsake the vulgar, 
when the vulgar is right — the whole people is the vul- 
gar." — Dr. Johnson. This people are descended of the 
Chaldseans. 

Innumerable instances occur in ancient and modern 
works in which they are used as such. — The idea that 
when two subjects coupled by and occur, they are applied 
to one and understood to the other has been condemned 
by grammarians. 

In these phrases is ought to be are — not to believe rashly 
is the sinews of wisdom. 

To be content with what one has is the greatest and 
most certain riches. 

Mr. Harris asserts that the subject and predicate are 
convertible — as there can be no intermediate opinion, and 
it is obviously erroneous in application to each of the 



29 

extremes, it must be erroneous of itself. A transposition of 
terms is frequent, but tbe verb and subject on such 
occasions must correspond in number. He reiterates an 
assertion that the predicate becomes the subject by trans- 
position which would lead the student into a labyrinth of 
error. 

Art and wert were wont to be written ared and wered. 
Was and were are used plurally and for variety, and are 
used in the singular number. So was also James and John 
the sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. Was 
is now appropriated to the singular which was formerly 
applied to the plural number. 

As is in Hebrew is used singularly and plurally, may 
not the Greeks take this authority from the Hebrew? 
They apply the verb singular, the essential verb, to a 
plural subject, and a plural verb to a singular subject, 
which looks anomalous, but we have shewn that our an- 
cestors used is and the terminations s and th singularly 
and plurally, as these examples prove. 

The sun beams do ripen all fruits and addeth to them a 
sweetness or fulness. 

When a warlike state grows soft and effeminate, they 
may be sure of a war. 

It is not true that was anciently said, a place sheweth 
the war. 

The sun beams tanneth the skin and in some places 
turneth it black. 

The heat or beams of the sun doth take away the smell 
of flowers. 

The syllepsis figure of speech, is when one is taken for 
many or many for one. 

The Greeks made the existence plural and the verb 
singular. Until some of the learned can assign a sub- 
stantial reason why the third person in the verb is varied, 
as loves, and the rest not, one might plead for the second 



30 

method, that is that there be no inflection. A little prac- 
tice makes it familiar, and we should see analogy triumph 
over absurd custom ; but analogy was not consulted when 
the plural of verbs and nouns were made to terminate 
differently. 

Having made s or es, the symbol of plurality, was it 
analogical to symbolise individuality or singularity in the 
same way ? Poets frequently disregard inflection in order 
to be natural and elegant ; this is visible in every language, 
but no reason can be assigned for varying the third person 
or the second person of verbs but tyrant custom, for 
natural language rejects all inflection or concretion. 

The apostrophic termination s is Hebrew, applicable to 
either number, and was so used with us, as vulgarly, Where 
is my boots ? 

As it is knowe how meny maner peple beth in this ilonde, 
there beth also of so meny peple longages and tonges. 
— Higden, translated by John de Trevisa, 1385. 

Th, and s are continually used for plurality, as bulls and 
goats sanctified to the purifying — Great pains hath been 
taken. — Pope. I am the Lord that maketh all things, that 
spreadeth the heavens by myself. Here maketh is singular 
and agrees with I. 

Did St. Luke, viii. 45, express himself in English as 
he does in Greek ol o^Ach avvixovai ere icat airoOXifiovai, 
&c. The multitude throng thee and press thee and sayest 
thou, &c. — there would be no need of collective sense. 

The Hebrew and Asiatic tongues allow no present or 
imperfect tenses, only the preterite and the future, and 
this is the case with all Shemitic tongues. In Hebrew there 
is but one conjugation, which is divided into seven voices or 
moods. It says not, He learns, but is learning. The 
particle wa gives the verb future time, characteristic with 
the Greek aorists or time indefinite. 

Primitive language had no present or imperfect, but 



31 

used the preterperfect and preterpluperfect, formed on the 
same principles in Sanskrit, Greek, Latin, and Teutonic. 

A partial repetition of the verbal root d added to the 
preterit, is only the verb do according to the learned 
Grimm. See chapter on Do, 

The present and preterperfect are equal to any pair of 
tenses — IlsTroima and liroifoa. I have done it, or I did it. 
iojpaKa and a$ov. I have just seen and I saw it once. 
When you have seen or done you can do no more ; what 
difference is there then except philosophical or imaginary ? 

There is no difference between ire and esse. Amare is 
substitute for amasse, amavisse, ama-ire, or the aoristus 
seolicus and the aorists — the shadow of a shade. 

In the eight tenses, the present and imperfect express 
every thing. Do you go to-morrow ? The Hebrews use the 
preterperfect and pluperfect where the moderns use the 
present and imperfect. They considered time as on the 
wing, and passing while one talks of it, 

Dum loquimur, fugit invida 
^Etas 

The tenses go in pairs. Present and imperfect, perfect 
and preterperfect ; two aorists, two futures. The passive 
is put sometimes for the active, as sKoviro for hove, IpiZerai 
for IpiZeig, and inversely the active for the passive, as 
€ov\evelv for tsovXevivOai, and many others. 

The Greek structure is very various, being partly San- 
skrit, Hebrew, and probably Egyptian, as an Egyptian 
colony settled in Greece, and took with them the owl, the 
symbol of wisdom, which became the armorial ensign of 
Athens. 

All Greek and Latin inflection depend on one symbol. It 
would appear that the transformations in language are in- 
credible, for almost every number, case, tense, degree, mood, 
each is used for the other in prose and verse. Plural for 
singular, substantive for adjective, comparative for positive 



32 

and superlative ; dual for plural, and vice versa, and case 
for case — relative for reciprocal and inversely. Passive for 
active — indicative for optative mood, while the infinitives 
as well as the aorists were used for all times and tenses — 
genders were commutable, the antecedent and relative in 
some cases by attraction. In fine, every grammatical acci- 
dent may be converted into another , and the sense pre- 
served, number for number, case for case, gender for 
gender, as miser animi, animo, animum are all equivalent. 
The mode of expression depends on the will of the writer. 
Ex.: Inmentemand in mentevary only inform, inurbem, 
and in urbe, &c. So that the application of the accidents 
depends solely on the taste of the author. This is styled 
Enallage, which changes the voice, word, and tense, and 
proves that the meaning of words is not affected by techni- 
cality. Virgil uses the present and past in horret and 
refugit for refugit. Hence substantives are put for adjec- 
tives, denominatives for primitives, verbs for nouns, voice 
for voice active or passive or middle — tense for tense, per- 
son for person, all such varieties are found in the best 
authors, and confirm the Horatian canon, "usus quern 
penes/' &c. 

The Latins copied nearly all the syntax of the Greeks — 
the language is almost CEolic Greek, so that in general 
structure they coincide. 

Plautus has vivimus vita/em sevum. Caesar in Anticato, 
Unius superbise dominatuque. Cicero has Equites vero da- 
turos illius dies poenas. Vix decima parte die reliqua. Id 
genus alia, and ejus generis alia are equivalent. Si adsis 
aliter, for si adesses aliter sentires. Sto or statur a me. Pars 
abiit for abiere. Uterque deluditur or deluduntur. Scio 
uxorem datwm. Hanc rem tibi ov&tum esse a nobis volo. 
Ubi est ilk scetus, &c. Volo esse clemens ; utor libris 
quibus habeo. This is more Grsecorum. 

In plurals, es, eth, or s was affixed as in verbs, applicable 



33 

to all persons, as says I or sayeth I— greeteth I— greeteth 
Mary, or I do greet Mary, and this corresponds to the 
Saxon of or to, (see chapter under these words.) Es can 
not claim a third person any more than other persons. 
Aristark, my ever Caytyf, (prisoner) greetith you wel. 
WiclyfFs Bible. Colossians iv. 10. And wytethe wel — 
you know well. — Sir Jo. Mandeville. 

Analogically speaking, as our nouns end plurally in s, 
so should the plural of verbs, but custom has determined 
otherwise, because the concurrence of ss is unpleasant. 
The horses runs — hence in runs s was suppressed and made 
more agreeable to the auricular organ. 

" Mercii that beeth men of middel Engoland understock- 
ed." Here we see that eth or ith was common to every 
person, singular or plural, even in the imperative mood. 
Elfric, Abbot, greeteth Sigeferth freondlice. After all the 
rules that can be given the student must be directed by 
custom, on which composition depends, and not on gram- 
matical rules — there is not so great a discrepance in com- 
position as is imagined — it is on the surface, for the accord, 
like truth, lies in the well. 

For some usith — John de Trevisa — and in Douglas B. ii. 
p. 59, the word seis is written for seith, sees. |C Quhare 
towris thou seis fall down." So written because the pronoun 
thou is expressed . He uses doith as rt my muse shal now be 
clene contemplative and solitaire as doith the bird in a cage," 
and he terminates the plural and genitive in is, as on 
Virgilis post I fix for ever more. Again : Ye writaris al 
and gentil readeris eik. 

The letters tk, which is only the verb do, are found in 
many nouns like birth, warmth, depth— and again without 
the h, as frost, lost. These letters are used in Hebrew and 
the Shemitic languages with or without a vowel termina- 
tion. — See Notes and Queries. 

When language is defective in variety it is injudicious 



34 

to resign any mode of expression transmitted to us by our 
eminent writers. Some are condemned as obsolete, but 
we must be careful of tbis condemnation and ultimate 
loss, if tbe terms are justified by autbority, and sucb was 
the practice of the ancients. 

Wherever more ways than one present themselves to 
convey the same idea, the Greek and Latin authors avail 
themselves of them, and that for variety which is ever 
pleasing. 

Ex.: Scio quod films meus amet, for filium meum amare. 
Probabo quod non sit pudica, for Illam non esse 

pudicam. 
Misit certos qui classem arcesserent, vel, ut, quod, 

cum, quum. 
Classem arcessendi causa, vel ergo, vel classis ar- 

cessendse causa. 
Ad classem arcessendum or arcessendam, vel accer- 
situm classem, vel classem arcessiturus. 
Again : Nostri et Vestri is elliptical for nostri generis. 
Vestri ordinis aut aliquid simile. Est mihi ludere ; c'est a moi 
a jouer. All verbs apud antiquos admitted an accusative 
case, as Mea utuntur bona, fungor officium — Potior urbem 
— Misereor vicem tui. Omnia quae curant Senes memine- 
runt. Grammatical rules do not always reject the accusa- 
tive case ; parco is said to govern the dative, but this does 
not exclude the accusative, as omnia parcunt seni. Csetera 
quae volumus uti, grseca mercemur fide ; here quae and not 
quibus is used. 

Sometimes the cause is omitted and sometimes the effect, 
as in these coincident terms, Sinite illas gloria frui. 
iEsopus finxit consolandi gratia. Veniente, Pluto avertit 
oculos. Opes invisse sunt forti viro. Evasit puteo. Abiit 
Roma, &c. 

Inversion should be studied and observed ; all connexion 
depends on the agency of the mind, as Certi certius est, it 



35 

is certain as can be. Veniam quam citissimum, I will come 
with all speed. Officiis certare— to strain courtesies. 

The verb may be applied in various ways as avertit se — 
ilium — avertit — avertitur — avertitur a me, se, illis — sacri- 
ficatur hostia, the victim is sacrificing. Nox precipitat, 
prsecipitatur ; and this view of the verb resolves many seem- 
ing difficulties in the verbal construction of both the 
learned tongues. 

Had H. Tooke adverted to the official terms, shall, 
ought, may, instead of the ambiguous terms " to be and 
about to be," he had not made these interrogations. What 
is looser or more awkward than our about to be, about to 
come, to do, &c, or our equivocal is to be, come, do— for 
futurus, venturus, facturus? Now these expressions are 
equivalent to doit etre — venir — faire. 

Anciently audiam, transiam, sciam, &c. were written 
audibo, scibo, &c. So of capiam, capiem, and of all verbs 
of the third conjugation wherein the i is not found before 
the termination am or em, — it being suppressed euphonies 
gratia. 

Facies ne hoc, facies hoc ? Volo. I will. We say so 
also, elliptically, without adding a verb, as I will — for I 
will do it. 

Knowledge of the future comes from that of the past, 
and that again from the present which is the lowest 
species of knowledge, the first in perception but common 
to all animated beings. 

I shall go, means I ought to go ; but if I should go, 
means if it happen that I go. Now in I should go an 
ellipsis occurs and would otherwise be incorrect. I should 
go involves, if I acted as I ought. If I should go is, in 
genuine English, if I go, I will inform you. Should one 
say, if I should go, the sentence strictly speaking should 
be, if I should go, I would inform you of it, for should and 
will may correspond according to universal analogy, the 

d 2 



36 

terms being indefinite or equivalent to the aorist in Greek, 
as the name implies. 

Dr. Lowth says it is confounding the tenses, but he 
seems to have pretermitted the aorists, in his inquiries, 
which as the term imports may be applied to any period, 
present, past, future, without the designation of time. 

In both the learned languages cases and tenses are far 
from uniform ; the same may be predicated of all gram- 
matical accidents, which shews that a technicality changes 
not the word, as all languages evince. 

Construction is divided into regular and irregular ; the 
former when all meant is expressed, the latter when less 
is expressed than implied, and this is the law of every 
learned production. 

Expression may vary and the tense and sense be pre- 
served, because technicality should have no influence on 
an author's meaning. Every writer has a style of his 
own, for language is the character of the author and his 
age too, and conveys his meaning in different words ; yet 
in the meaning all styles coincide, although a word some- 
times changed for another may alter the intention. 

Composition is universal ; words depend on usage and 
forms vary, but the sense is immutable. 

Eo domum, I go home. Amo proximum, I love my 
neighbour. Here the idea of motion is the same in both. 
Language is arbitrary or all languages would coincide, 
and much connection in discourse depends on particles 
expressed or understood, as in eo domum, the preposition 
ad is understood. Scio iilam velle benefacere in future. 

The word ibo says H. Tooke consists of three words, viz. 
two verbs and a pronoun Hie, go, wol, or will, ich, I. Iboul, 
ibou, ibo, for Iw, eljua. 

Now iturum is composed of the symbol of motion E re- 
peated — ire, ire — so ibo, to be consistent with its roots 
should be compounded of ire and vadere, written badere, 



37 

whence the initials of these two terms of motion with the 
first vowel of ego, constitute the verb ibo. 

This word is not properly and radically translated I 
shall or will go, but as in French Je vais aller, literally 
going to go, as legam, audiam, I am about to read, hear. 

The termination am, which is Celtic, being correspondent 
to the Greek a^i, abbreviated into a/x, or if repetition of 
the motion is desired we might say le-gam, audi-am, are 
compounded of legere and ambulo and should be written 
lectum ambulo, eo ambulatum, I go a walking, which is a 
natural expression. 

In Welsh there is no present tense in attributive verbs ; 
the want is supplied as in Greek, by circumlocution, e. g. 
ElfjiX lv Ti$ $i\uv, I am loving. The paragogic particle 0t 
is thought to be a corruption of the dative case in &rj0e. 
Hence the word in Latin vis, strength— f becoming 0; the 
modern Greeks end words in <[>g as ^cktiXs^q for ^acriXtve. 

The Latin future in bo is derived from the verb sub- 
stantive and is analogous to the Anglo-Saxon beo 9 bys, 
byth, which gives no future tense but by convention. 

Aristarchus avows he could not find a future tense in 
any language, because one can not act before the time of 
acting arrives, and there is a contingency in all futures. 
All time is present, for the past is gone, and the future 
uncertain. 

The present and past time are commutable, as J'ai bientot 
fait, for j'aurai bientot fait, and j'aurais is the contraction of 
a phrase as we have remarked, and so are all tenses. 

The future tenses are wanting in all Teutonic languages, 
and Dr. Prichard observes there is a first or perfect future 
and also a second future in Sanskrit. 

In Greek the present is used for the future tense by 
poets, and that is only a mere change in the accent or 
emphasis of the present ; and the future in Greek is only 
a first future a little varied, and that the sense does not 
differ in the two said futures. 



Damm thought the neutral sense in Greek verbs was the 
same as the active, except that the pronoun or substantive 
was understood, which may account for almost any verb 
having a neutral as well as an active or passive sense. 

Many facts have been overlooked, have been deemed 
ambiguous or not understood, and the science of language 
and its intricacies unexplored. Had this science been 
duly cherished, we had not been involved in the darkness 
of error, for in some particulars generations have retro- 
graded by reason of the incompetence of those who never 
learned the sound and sterling principles of even their 
predecessors. 

There are ambiguities of expression in these phrases. 

I can not find one of my books, which may mean one 
particular book, or all together; to understand which a cer- 
tain definite expression of the tone of voice should be 
employed — many such difficulties arise, and on this recourse 
is to be had to some similar proposition by which this 
ambiguity may be avoided, as one of my books I can not 
find— one is missing. 

Again : The eagle killed the hen and eat her in her own 
nest. He sent him to kill his own father. Cepi columbam 
in nido suo, ejus, illius, ipsius. 

These and many such, the learned Valla thought to be 
sophistical. Quis not intelligat tua Salute continere sua? 
Salute tua is here taken actively. An vero hoc pronihilo 
putas? In quo quidem pro amicitia tua jure dolere soleo. 
Here amicitia tua is taken passively ; Valla wished to read 
it amicitia tui, but it is Greek idiom. 

In ambiguous phrases the sense determines the meaning, 
which in all languages induced the use of pronouns reci- 
procal and consequently the passive voice, but wherever 
there is a periphrasis or perplexed meaning with the 
reciprocal it ought to be reduced to its natural order to see 
which is the nominative to the verb. 

Dr. Priestley's apology for a verb singular where the 



39 

terms contain kindred ideas is inadmissible; for they 
enfeeble style and are avoided by writers of elegance or 
precision. If used, they ought to conform to the general 
laws of syntax and are not one word, because they contain 
kindred ideas — any one might equally say, that the sons 
of the king are one and the same person, because they 
are brothers. 

By a simple conversion we can convey the most complex 
ideas which perpetually recur in inflected language. Such 
advantages ought not to be relinquished, as it is said the 
Sublime Being being the subject, the auxiliary may is 
suppressed in the phrase, The Lord bless thee and keep 
thee — but the phrase with the pronoun is obsolete. 
Again : Unto which he vouchsafed to bring us all, or rather 
vouchsafe he to bring us all. 

This is a beauty not to be surpassed, perhaps paralleled 
in any language; it is agreeable to analogy, and can not 
be sacrificed without detriment to the most simple and 
elegant of all modern languages, the British. 

Op the Perfect Tense. 

Our ancestors indulged in pretention in lieu of the 
participle past, which is very elegant diction — He has rode 
a race — has wrote well — They were all smote seriously — 
He has writ it — Some ill has befell him — Greatly mistook 
the affair — The pleader has spoke — Has forgot his shame 
— The dog has bit him — Has strove to surpass him — Has 
drove them out. There is scarce a verb where the perfect 
tense can not be used in lieu of the past for variety — and 
to deprive the student of universal composition is to 
withhold from him one object of his literary pursuits. In 
Latin vixit which ought to mean he lived, implies the con- 
trary, he is dead, which is a completive power of the 
tense. Periods of nature and human affairs are maintained 
by reciprocal successions of contraries, as calm with tcm- 



40 

pest — day and night- — hence the completion of one con- 
trary is put for the commencement of another, as fuit 
means he is dead. 

Our elegant writers preferred the second form of the verb, 
that is the perfect to the past participle, and in that they 
evinced taste and j udgment . In this the Latin was followed, 
which seems to have escaped Dr. Lowth, who criticises 
pretention, and gravitates towards pedantry. Sometimes 
the imperfect is used for the perfect, as Iwoiu for ewoivcrs, 
faciebat for fecit, which is very graceful and indicative of 
modesty. 

Dr. Priestley thought there was an ambiguity in the use of 
the preterite, as the same word may express a thing either 
doing or done. Ex. : I went to see the child dressed, that 
is dressed or dressing — It should be to see the child 
dressing — if the dressing were completed, it should then be 
dressed. He criticises this pretention, " if some events had 
not fell out." But this diction is analogically correct, and 
was the ancient form of expression and so has descended to 
our day. He adds, Lord Bolingbroke seems to affect a 
variety in the participles of the same verbs, when they 
came too near together, as He will endeavour to write as 
the ancient author would have wrote had he writ in the same 
language. Despite of this the Dr. remarks that one of the 
defects in our language is the paucity of inflection. Why 
then deny it to Lord Bolingbroke, who has accommodated 
the Dr. with the very variety he advocated, shewing that 
we should avail ourselves of every grammatical mutation ? 
This was the original analogy in English, and should not 
have been changed ; the adoption of the participle instead 
of the perfect originated rather in ignorance and introduced 
anomaly in our construction uncongenial with its primeval 
simplicity. 

The perfect of read was once written red, and so 'Lord 
Bolingbroke wrote it, hence the pronunciation. Wolde 
God that lay peple, &c. for ccrtes red y never in no mannys 



41 

writingis. — Pecock's Book of Faith, 1450. So it was in 
heard — written herd — and ledde for lead. The usage of 
axe for asked is Saxon. Tha axede him an Vair Cniht. 
They asked him as very Knight. — Layamon ; and, Axeth 
wreche, and though his sister lacke speech. — Conf. Amantis, 
B. v. It has been asked if Scripserim, legerim, venerim, &c. 
are of the preterit or future tense or both ? 

The perfect tense in Asiatic tongues is the only simple 
form of the verb, the present and future action being made 
in a declaratory manner in Persian, Hebrew, and Arabic — 
and in Virgil, the present and perfect tenses are common 
in one and the same sentence. 

The English have availed themselves of every beauty 
and turn of speech in the learned languages, and so we 
account for the boundless variety which characterises our 
language, and entitles it to become a universal language, 
towards which it is progressing by reason of its extensive 
commerce, arts and literature, and religion as found in 
Holy writ, and not out of it, or in pretended traditions. 

Set is a contraction of seated, as He is sat on the right 
hand, &c. Laid down and was lain are precisely the same, 
however grammarians may diversify identity. 

Found and have found have precisely the same mean- 
ing. •' Hence the propriety of these lines. 

Some who the depths of eloquence have found, 

In that unnavigable stream were drowned. — Dryden. 

Words being arbitrary owe their power to association, 
having only the influence which custom has given them. 

On Moods. 
Mood is the various manner in which the being, action 
and passion are expressed or represented — and is an in- 
flection in grammar, winch means any deviation from the 
primary, styled Conjugation in verbs, and Declension in 
adjectives and substantives. 



42 

The primary moods are indicative and imperative. The 
secondary are such as when the copula is affected with any 
of them and make the sentence a modal preposition. This 
modal preposition is when the matter in discourse, the being, 
doing or suffering of a thing is considered not simply by 
itself, but gradually in its causes from which it proceeds, 
either contingently or necessarily. Contingent or possibly 
as by can, could — may, might — will, would— shall, should 
— must, ought, &c. 

These are grammatical fictions, however, for there are 
really no moods in language. The participle is a mere 
mode of the verb, having the energy and force of every 
accident. The termination draws the mind to the accident 
and was invented for a more elegant construction. All 
signs of the potential mood denoting possibility and con- 
tingence are virtually in the indicative, which denotes 
simply or is declarative, and the infinitive and imperatives 
(implying to order) were originally one and the same. 

II serait a desirer, a souhaiter — it were to be wished, is 
a more polite expression than it is to be wished — je 
voudrois avoir mieux employe le temps — Vellem melius 
usus fuisse temporis — changer de condition is elliptic 
diction. 

Time must be present, past, or future. Action or exis- 
tence may be imperfect, time can not be so — when we say, 
I am writing, he is working, time is evidently present, but 
the action is imperfect. The imperfect participle should 
not be subjoined to the auxiliary verb to le when it indi- 
cates an affection of the mind, as I am loving, I shall be 
loving, are incorrect, and should be, I love, I shall love. 

Time may be divided into present absolute, as I often do 
it, and present progressive, I am doing it. Imperfect ab- 
solute, as I did it formerly — and imperfect progressive, I 
have been doing it — pluperfect absolute, as I had done it 
—pluperfect progressive, I had been doing it. 



43 

Grammarians have divided time into definite and in- 
definite — now I love, is as much definite as I am doing, I 
was and I shall be doing — we say not, I am or was loving, 
but I love and I loved. Verbs indicating affection of the 
mind as love, abhor, &c. admit no progressive time. 

Verbs expressing a sudden act which is capable of pro- 
gression never admit the progressive state. It is not 
strictly grammatical to say, I am loving her — He is 
dwelling in London — Your friends are abounding in 
wealth. 

Neither do verbs which denote progression, or presuppose 
a fixed conclusion of the action or affection, admit a pro- 
gressive state — for some verbs never admit the progressive 
time, it being inconsistent with their import. 

Verbs and participles and particles are nothing but 
names. Tooke discovered they were fragments of words, 
names of ideas, of which right they had been dispos- 
sessed by grammarians and philosophers, ignorant of their 
roots. Every word, signifying aught, signifies something 
per se } says Vossius, not a noun only is significant. A word 
is not a sound even until it is put in motion by the organs 
of speech and encounters the air, a sentence is a com- 
pound quantity of sound significant, of which certain parts 
are themselves also significant, as the sun shines, &c. 
Harris says that words imply a meaning not divisible, 
hence words are the smallest parts of speech, and every 
sentence must be of assertion or volition, according to the 
powers of the soul which are perception and volition, — 
comprising will, memory and understanding. 

Subjunctive Mood. 

Subjunctive implies subjoined, and is indicative of an 
end or final cause, which is however contingent, yet really 
there is no subjunctive in the English language, it is a non- 



44 

entity. All arts owe their origin to nature ; despite this 
essential truth grammarians have invented a system of 
verbal policy to which they would make all language sub- 
ordinate. 

Plato erroneously asserted that language originated in 
deep meditation and reflection *. now it arose in simplicity, 
but it was complicated by thought. The oldest tongues 
are the simplest, and the language of Paradise must have 
been simplicity itself. 

Mr. Harris says the verb has no variation for words, 
hence there cannot be a subjunctive mood, as Dr. Lowth 
asserted, for variation is a distinction and an inflection ; 
many nations contrive to express their sentiments without 
the aid of a subjunctive mood as well as the English. 

When the verb has an affix as doeth, doth, it is said to 
be indicative, that is, indicative of its being a verb. But 
when the affix is absent, the verb is in its radical form or 
in the infinitive mood. This is the whole mystery — See the 
examples. 

Thou, thus range the camp alone. — Pope. 

For thee, that evevfelt another's woe. — Pope, 

O thou Supreme, high thronedj all heights above, 

Thou first great Cause, least understood, who all my 
sense confined* 

But thou false Arcite never shall obtain. 

Faultless thou dropt from his unerring skill. 

And wheresoever thou cast thy view. — Cowley, 

This is English diction passim, natural and elegant, un- 
paralleled in any inflected language whatever, and yet Dr. 
Lowth condemns it as contrary to grammar, though he 
does not say it is contrary to usage or custom, on which 
all elegance or propriety of composition depend. 

It is not marvellous that this diction should pervade our 
classical authors, when we consider that doest contains 
does, and the termination t, which is equivalent to thou. 



45 

If it be required why we do not vary the verb in the 
subjunctive mood, we answer, that when we place do before 
the verb we omit the termination th, being the aspiration 
of d or t, for these two are letters of the same power. This 
established, we can not with propriety use the termination 
th or s, when we have prefixed do in any mode whatever. 

It has perplexed grammarians to discover why the sub- 
junctive mood is not varied, and they said it was owing to 
the absence of the auxiliary ; but the reason is, it is owing 
to the absence of do or its equivalents, tho, an, if, gyf, 
gyn, &c. 

Now if these particles, an, if, tho, be equivalent to 
do, the subjunctive mood (if there must be one, which I 
deny) remains unvaried in the English language. 

It may be objected, however, that some authors do vary 
the verb in the so-called subjunctive. This is true; but, 
be it recollected, that this is done by way of enforcement 
or emphasis of expression, which pleonastic form is, for the 
very same reason, common to other languages. Hence 
the futility of any arguments in favour of a different 
system. 

The business of criticism is to detect, expose, and exter- 
minate living and triumphant errors, which have been 
long embalmed and canonised in the sanctuary of science. 

Principal verbs are sometimes implied only ; as, unless 
he (do) wash his feet — I fear lest he (should) come. 

When we speak hypothetically, we use the second in- 
definite to convey a present perception ; as, I would do it 
if I could. But more elegantly, Could I do it, I would — 
Did I act wrong, I would acknowledge my fault — Could I 
but see him, I would rejoice — Were I there, I would re- 
prove him — Had I been there, I had reproved him. Do is 
enforcive ; as, Though he does slay me. It is equivalent 
to shall and will. Does is also used for should. 

" Though heaven's King ride on thy wings." Before 



46 

ride, doth is understood, and in the expression, " Draw'st his 
triumphant wheels," dost is implied ; so ride is defensible 
for ridest in Milton. 

Were has been used as the second indefinite, but in that 
sense it is disused, was and were being appropriated to dif- 
ferent purposes and services ; was denoting a past event, 
and were hypothetically a present event. Ex. : Were I in 
your place. 

When languages became objects of taste and refine- 
ment, the learned applied the exuberance of diction to the 
purposes of elegance, variety, and discrimination. 

All inflection or concretion was invented for the same 
end, the creature of convenience and fancy, not essential 
to language. Hence the frequent recurrence of writers to 
the language of nature, which disdains restraint, for all 
inflected speech, not being natural, contains the elements 
of its own destruction. Hence modern languages shook 
off many of the cumbrous honours of the parent, which re- 
tained much primitive diction also ; as Terence says, Hue 
cum adveni nulla erat. 

Dixerat — et fugit ceu fumus in auras — He spoke and 
incontinently vanished like smoke. 

English is so little inflected, that its writers convert that 
little to purposes of variety. Does, doth, hath, and all 
similar terminations, suit every variety of style, and are 
pleasing changes. The termination dropped ; as, range for 
rangeth, denotes style natural, but when it is used it is 
artificial, for when writers neglect inflection they recur to 
the language of nature, or adopt rational principles often 
unknown to grammarians. 

When the person is expressed the termination is ele- 
gantly suppressed. Ex. : 

<c Oh, thou my voice inspire, 
Who touched Isaiah's hallowed lips with fire." 

This is very elegant diction, although Lowth and some 



47 

tasteless critics have condemned it. Hundreds of citations 
come to the rescue and reinforce the practice. 

Dr. Lowth says the form constitutes the distinction of 
moods, and that in English there is no distinction. Hence 
there is no mood in English. 

Now be and were are the indicative. Ex. : u Be ye 
come out as against a thief." Rebekah took goodly rai- 
ment of her son's, which were with her, and put them on 
Jacob, &c. Dr. Lowth remarks also, it is not easy to give 
particular rules for the management of the moods and 
times of verbs — he should have said tenses, not times. We 
must take as the best of rules what the sense necessarily 
requires. 

In the phrase of Prior — 

"So much she fears for William's life 
That Mary's fate she dare not mourn," 
there is no more evidence of a subjunctive mood than if 
it had been dares ; for whenever an adjective-verb like 
dare is unvaried in the second or third person, the varia- 
tions of the verb do are suppressed, either for the sake of 
measure or at the discretion of the writer. 

We be twelve brethren — though he were divinely in- 
spired — though he was rich, he became poor. Nor does 
Addison confound the indicative and subjunctive moods in 
" If there be but one body, it is no more than a tyranny ; if 
there are more than two, there will want a casting voice." 

Here two different sorts of the essential verb are used 
for variety, and these two forms were hitherto used pro- 
miscuously. 

There is no subjunctive mood in English or Hebrew, and 
many Oriental tongues—' 4 And the third part of the stars, 
&c. was smitten, so that the third part of them was dark- 
ened." — Rev. viii. 12. 

Ay sud eat more cheese gyn ay hadct. 
Chud eat more cheese an chad it. 



48 

I would eat more cheese, if I had it. 

Rd. Verstegan, p. 195. 
These three modes of expression are according to locality. 
Were and wert are used instead of should, would, &c. by 
an idiom peculiar to the English, and express a condition; 
as, if thou wert there (now) thou wouldest find how many 
they are. Verbs of wishing are succeeded by another verb 
in the so-called subjunctive mood. Ex. : Would all my 
pains were gone — You would suppose I had rather not — If 
he but touch the hills — If thou be the Son of God (Matth. 
xxvii. 40). It is in the indicative mood, el vlbg el rov 

0£OU. 

Whether I or they preach, it is the same doctrine. As 
" Now we know that God heareth not sinners, but if any 
man he a worshipper of God, and doeth his will, him he 
heareth." Be and doeth here are evidently in the same 
mood, not subjunctive, but indicative. 

Terms implying action, existence, acquisition, possession, 
desire, power, duty, possibility, being in continual use, 
grammarians inadvertently pronounce them mere auxilia- 
ries in the communication of ideas. Hence do, be, get, 
have, will, can, shall, may, &c, are supposed to be certain 
little words by the help of which are formed moods and 
tenses ; but, in truth, no words in the language are more 
deservedly termed principal words. 

Will is desire — I will do it. Shall, is obligation ; as, I 
shall write. May, is permission — I may go. Can, is 
power ; as, I can come. Must, is necessity ; as, I must 
work. Have, is possession ; as, I have it. Be, is exist- 
ence ; as, I am. One is an existence, un etre. One or 
Being is the germ, and is no other than the generic of all 
existence, the radical of all mathematical science. 

Tenses do not signify time (although all motion is in 
time, and time is a concomitant, so does all rest imply 
time), yet they are but contractions of propositions, so that 



49 

every verb finite is resolvable into a declaration of a mode 
of being. I teach; that is, I am teaching. Time is 
always expressed by an adverb or substantive. I do it 
now, then, hereafter. 

Tenses are frequently used for one another, on account 
of variety. St. Paul says that I may know him, if by any 
means I might attain, &c. What wilt thou that I should 
do unto thee ? That I might receive my sight. Should 
and would express the future tense as well as the present 
and past. That he shoidd or would come to-morrow, as 
well as it was my desire he should or would come yester- 
day. This application of the verbs, in which are included 
the participles, extends to every verb in human speech. 
Energy resides in the agent, as also power, will, &c. When 
we do a thing it is because we will, can, ought, must. 
Hence all the faculties being implied, a single symbol is 
sufficient to express the act. 

Ought and should, will and would, are synonymous with 
intend and intended ; as, I intended to have written, which 
is synonymous with I would have written. Ought and 
should are synonymous and equivalent. 

The words may, might, can, would, should, are all incon- 
trovertible proofs that the past tense of the subjunctive 
mood is as much declinable as the past tense of the indi- 
cative, in mightest, canst, &c. 

Would resembles will, to express past time ; as, I would 
do it if I could — I thought it would rain — We would go if 
we might. 

Would is used elliptically, conveying a pathetic form of 
wishing ; as, Would he were not dead, which is, I wish he 
were not dead, if the ellipsis were supplied ; but if so, 
these expressions would lose their strength and beauty. 

Can and could denote the power of doing a thing ; as, 
I can do it now — could do it at once. 

May and might indicate liberty and permission, and 



50 

sometimes express possibility ; as, I may do it, possibly, 
and shall do it. May expresses wish or prayer ; as, Mayest 
thou protect us. This is, however, elliptical — we entreat 
being understood. 

When the absolute form of the verb precedes, it must be 
followed by the absolute ; as, I can do it if I will — I may, 
I would do it, if I chose. May denotes legal, can denotes 
natural power. 

Can, canne, canst — Cucle for could. How came the I in 
couldst, which is obvious in would and should ? 

Will and would indicate volition ; will absolutely, and 
would conditionally. 

Should, following a conjunction, implies uncertainty, as 
I will stay, lest they should come when I am gone. 

How should my brother know that circumstance ? It is 
sometimes used for ought, but differs from it, as ought is 
followed by to, before the infinitive mood, and should 
never is, Ex. : We should love our enemies. Ought, how- 
ever, conveys the same idea, and so there is no use of 
should. 

In many cases to is preferable to may or might, and 
more agreeable to English analogy. It is Greek idiom, 
and is recommended for its intrinsic elegance. 

I shall have it finished, or I shall have finished it, are 
synonymous. 

When there is a danger of mistaking the cause or agent, 
the latter mode is preferable. 

I do something because I can, may, will, shall. Hence, 
the Greeks and Latins dispensed with the use of these 
words, and substituted a term in which they were implied, 
may you one ? I can, I shall one. 

The conditional present, might, could, should, would, 
may be connected with the absolute may, can, shall, will, 
with propriety. It is irregular or figurative, not capricious 
but appositely, from some latent impulse — Ex. : 






51 

What, know you not, being mechanical, 
You ought not walk upon a labouring day 
Without the sign of your profession. — Julius Caesar. 

Here, ought and should are synonymous, and ought as 
well as should are not improperly used before the verb 
following each. The auxiliary verb has nothing to do 
with the construction. 

Shall in the first person marks a future event, as I shall 
do it ; thou shalt not kill. Shall is an interrogative sen- 
tence, and used in the first and third person consults the 
will of another, as shall I, shall we go ? Shall } notes moral 
obligation, hence, the accent should be on " shalt not kill n 
in the Decalogue, and not on the negative, although it is a 
negative precept. Garrick so accented it, and Dr. John- 
son did not, who was very deficient in taste, as his Lives of 
the Poets evince. Must denotes natural obligation. 

Will in the first person, conveys a promise or threat, 
as I will see him — we will set off. Will implies in the 
2nd person, intention — as wilt thou do it ? 

Will is never used interrogatively in the 1st person, as 
Fi/ZIdo? iraZwedoit? 

Shall is substituted instead, because circumstances de- 
pend on our own will, and are known only to ourselves. 

Shall as connected with hope is now written will. Ex. : 
I hope if you have occasion to use me for your own turne, 
you shall find me yare." It is the effect of habit that we 
attach the idea of futurity to shall and will. 

Many have thought that there were no moods except 
those which are derived from adverbs, whose office it is to 
determine the signification of the verb, as bene, male, &c. 
like time, which is and ever has been expressed by a noun 
or adverb. Tenses of the subjunctive and indicative are 
indiscriminately taken for one and the other. Subjunctive 
partakes of the future, as Hoc Ithacus velit ; which latter 
denotes time future, wc can say, Si amera or amabo. The 

e 2 



52 

imperative is used for the future, and we can only com- 
mand in regard to time to come. We say non occides, 
thou shalt not kill. 

The potential is resolved into the indicative or subjunc- 
tive, and all into the indicative, as Dr. Beattie admits in 
his Theory of Language. 

Gerunds, Supines, Participles. 

The Verb names the energy. Gerunds and Supines 
have both active and passive significations, in which Latin 
and English coincide. 

Teaching, hearing, building, &c. are gerunds, that is the 
appropriate name, and are used actively and passively as 
in English ; which terms are merely nominal, not real ; for 
no distinction exists between the two forms as to their 
signification in early writers. 

In the phrase, " by continual mortifying our corrupt 
affections," the is not required before the gerund — this is 
primitive diction. In Pope we have " In mumbling of 
the game." 

When the participle refers to the subject or object of 
the proposition, it is not convertible into a substantive, as 
I am accused of betraying my friend. 

When the word which modifies the action or attribute 
can be referred with propriety to the subject or to the object 
of the proposition, it remains invariable, as I have sent you 
a letter agreeable to your wishes. According to his proposal 
I immediately dispatched the messenger. 

When the action represented by the participle, can be 
legitimately referred to the subject or agent, use the par- 
ticiple, Ex. : I censure you for doing so. 

When the subject or agent can be referred to the par- 
ticiple, it must not be converted into a substantive. Ex. : 
He was distinguished by nominating him to that post. 
When the participle has no reference to the subject or 
object of the proposition, it may be converted into a sub- 



53 

stantive, as His memory was perpetuated by the building of 
a church. 

The participle imperfect should not be used in a passive 
sense, as The book is printing. Participles are improperly 
termed present, past, and future, for they all without 
distinction apply to these times respectively. Where is 
the participle in dedi, steti? Yet we say, I have stood. 
Perhaps this suggests the adoption of the preterite in pre- 
ference to that of the participle, as I have run a race — 
hence it is that we have remarked that inflection, being 
the creature of convenience, may be used or not at discre- 
tion. Participles may be taken for all times and become 
nouns, as Pompeius discedens erat suos adhortatur, it means 
cum discederet, in the present, but venies judicans, it is the 
future, for it means venies et judicabis. Participles in the 
preterite and aorist are rendered by the present and par- 
ticiples also denote a future at hand — like jueXAwv in Greek ; 
the first future participle is often rendered by the present 
in Latin — as Sine videamus an veniat Elias liberans eum. 

The book is printing, the house is building, money is 
coining — all these expressions are a difficulty with 
foreigners. This is to be found in their ignorance of the 
termination ing } which means continuation, progress, and 
possesses a laconism unknown to modern tongues, and ren- 
ders the true meaning of the Latin passive inflection, as 
Domus sedificatur, cuditur liber, the book is printing or in 
the press. 

There is another manner of using the active participle, 
which gives it a passive signification, as the book is now 
printing, a phrase probably corrupted from a phrase more 
pure and now obsolete, viz. the book is a printing — a 
being properly at, and printing a verbal noun signifying 
action, according to the analogy of this language. 13ut 
who acts ? the book ? Is that which is inanimate capable 
of action ? The printer prints the book, and not the book 
the printer, much less itself. 



54 

Time present, Domus sedificatur — aedifi cabatur. The 
house was in building, denoting imperfect action of time 
past. "Without such construction, the Latin and Greek 
passive could not be rendered into English — that the pas- 
sive voice was a subsequent refinement is evinced by the 
imperfect state in which some of the Greek and Latin 
tenses are left. In these they adhered to the originally 
substantive form, because they found that many of their 
combinations were too prolix to be used without injustice 
to that euphony which they were intended to improve. 

The passive voice and reciprocity were adopted to avoid 
ambiguity. Where no danger of ambiguity exists, they 
are indispensable. As far as the meaning is concerned, a 
technicality can not affect it. This remark extends to all 
words and languages. Whether we say miser animi, animo, 
animum, the sense is the same. All cases, tenses, words, 
are commutable by enallage. All discord comes under 
this figure, so much used in Latin and Greek. Laudant 
alius alium, " Quae quum arti serviendum et figurata quam 
regulari Syntaxi utendum esse, si vis loqui et scribere 
pereleganter." Supines are verbal nouns used in every case, 
and sometimes they have plurals, but as supines are sub- 
stantives they do not change gender, as Vitam ire perdi- 
tum. Supines are either active or passive. In the phrase 
contumelia quae mihi factum itur. Contumelia is the no- 
minative to itur. 

The union of the verb esse in the passive voice, as Mo- 
nitus sim vel fuerim, &c, rendered all particles superfluous, 
and enabled writers to communicate their ideas with 
supreme elegance. 

Now the whole of the Greek passive voice is formed 

from the passive inflections of the substantive verb to be ; 

the present and future from its futures, the preterits from 

its plusquam perfectum, and its aorists from its imperfect. 

The middle voice follows the same construction, its dif- 



55 

ference from the passive consisting in radical rather than 
terminal inflection. It is said to be extended and passing, 
but it is a grammatical speculation. In fact, the distinc- 
tion between voices is merely nominal. The writers in the 
Attic dialect, which was not however the parent one, used 
the passive, where in the other dialects the active was ap- 
plied. Ex. : ru7rijjut or rwirsofjiaij the active form used in a 
passive sense. See P. Knight's Alphabet, p. 106. 

Hence the English is consistent with the most elegant 
of the dialects of Greece. The passive tenses in Greek are 
partly inflected and partly circumlocutory, which latter 
mode was adopted when many European tongues divested 
themselves of their cumbrous honours, in order to return 
to their native simplicity. 

Dr. Priestley remarks that in some very familiar forms 
of speech the active seems to be put for the passive form 
of verbs and participles ; as, I will teach you all what's 
owing to your Queen. The brass is forging ; the books 
are selling or on the sale ; binding or are to bind. He may be 
still to seek for a thing. This application of the verbs, in 
which are included participles, extends to every verb in 
human speech, and the expressions are all true and ge-- 
nuine English. 

There is a relation between the Latin and Celtic verbs, 
and also the Greek, in the defective state of persons in the 
passive tenses, and the distinction of active and passive 
verbs is not so clearly marked in Greek as in Latin. 

In the phrase, " You are too much mistaken in this 
King." I surmise that here the termination en is nothing 
but the preposition in which occurs so frequently in the 
English participle perfect. Mistaken is in a mistake. The 
estate is dipped, and is eating out with usury. This is the 
gerund which renders the true meaning of the passive in- 
flection. 

The gerund for the participle is observed in u They 



56 

were beholding to the clemency of the Romans for their 
preservation. We are beholding to the bounty of God for 
all we enjoy. Adjectives of possession are prefixed to 
the participle in ing ; as, from my having received let- 
ters. This mode of writing obtains among the learned. 
Again, the participle frequently, perhaps improperly, fol- 
lows the possessive case ; as " Much depends on the rules 
being observed." But it should be grammatically on the 
observing of the rule. 

Ing denotes continuance of energy; as loving. Ed 
completion of the energy ; as loved. 

Ad internecionem mihi persequendus est — I will punish 
him to the death. 

Our early writers delighted much in the gerund; as 
doing, sending, which not only contributes to the varying 
of the diction, but happily applied, it strengthens and beau- 
tifies the expression. Modern grammarians often accom- 
modate their ideas of propriety to the laws of inflection, 
and reject the language 0f nature. 

The participle ing has the construction of a verb when 
the sentence is definite. Ex. : These are the rules, by ob- 
serving which you may avoid mistakes. The same as en, 
" In one accorden. — P. Ploughman, 

It has also the construction of a substantive when the 
sentence is definite ; as, By the observing of which you 
may, &c. Ing involves being ; and in patronymics means 
son; as Elising,.Elisha's son — Atheling, of the race or 
son of a noble — Gillingham in Kent, is equivalent to the 
home of the family of Gill or Gyll ; for this orthography 
is varied at all times. Hem in German is heim ; as Arn- 
hera, Arnheim. 

The preposition is retained at the end of verbs in Latin, 
and in fact in all languages of Europe, and to it are 
referable ed } eth, ing. 

Some are led by this untutored derivation to the syno- 



57 

nymes, to engage, engaging, &c. Now the Italian termi- 
nation ando is only endo, a preposition used as a verb ; 
while eth and ed, the same in purport, are used for discri- 
mination ; as moveth, moved. Hence the commutability 
of tenses varying the meaning, which is common to all 
tongues, the present tense and participle involving the 
present, past, and future time, or, in other words, every 
tense, how complicated soever it may be. 

Wachter says ing is formed from ig, habens — eig — en, 
habere, to have, owe, hold, think, thine, ing, ung, Thinc- 
ung, the act of thinking. Sam-lung, auc-lung, &c. 

An, with the additional termination ed, forms by con- 
traction and, and the as, a participial termination, for 
which we now use ing. 

The terminations ed and en are the Saxon ad and en, and 
are synonymous with our to {see under To), and with in 
and ing. The participle in, ing, is improperly preceded 
by the pronominal adjectives, my, thy, &c, and sometimes 
the possessive case of nouns. Ex. : As to my loving that. 
"What is the meaning of the lady's holding up her train ? 
The participle imperfect does not grammatically admit the 
possessive case before it ; as, I do not think it right the 
King's going there. 

The Hebrew participle is a pure radical, and its inflec- 
tions are made by cementing with its roots the pronouns, 
as, We are visiting. The Persian and Arabic follow the 
same construction in their infinitive. And Chaucer, Troilus 
B. iii. v. 1254, (i Lo, who corny th here now ride" — for 
riding. 

The participle past ends in ed and en ; as, u In the 
foughten field." By deluges o'crthrown — With castcd 
slough and fresh celerity — splitted for split— as splittedthc 
heart — shaked for shook. u Grease that sweaten from the 
murthcrer's gibbet throw." — Shahspeare. 



58 



Aorists and Infinitives. 

Grammarians should have placed the infinitive mood at 
the beginning instead of the end of the moods. 

The French begin with the infinitive, and then the 
gerund, improperly termed the participle. The gerund 
and infinitive in English are the same ; the infinitive is 
termed the fountain, because from it flows the manner of 
signifying in every known language. 

The Stoics thought the infinitive to be the only part of 
speech or word, pure and uncombined, because it performs 
the office of all moods and tenses like the aorists, and their 
derivate names both imply, and as an abstract noun of all 
cases ; but it is no mood, as it implies no mental energy 
or intention. 

To eat, is only do eat. To eat stands alone, no person 
or substance can be prefixed, so the verb becomes a real 
substantive, and is known as the verbal noun. 

Infinitive is not confined to number ; it is used abso- 
lutely, without reference to accidents, as doctum esse, per- 
fect and pluperfect, amatum esse, or fuisse, to have been 
loved — the infinitive future tense, amatum iri, about to be 
loved. 

The simple infinitive expresses an action subsequent to 
that of the preceding mood ; as, He is better than I ex- 
pected to find him. 

The compound infinitive expresses an action prior to 
that of the preceding mood. The compound of the inva- 
riable mood, esse, indicates action completed prior to the 
time of the first verb ; as, He seems to be a scholar. 

The infinitive in the active is often used for the infinitive 
mood, passive voice, but improperly ; as, They are to blame, 
for to be blamed — I sent my book to bind, for to be bound. 

Here are instances of the divers, uses of the infinitive : — 
Asa nominative case, Mentiri non est meum ; as a geni- 



59 

tive, Virtus est vitiam fugere, for fuga vitii, est virtus ; as 
a dative, Magis paratus servire quam imperare, for magis 
paratur servituti quam imperio ; as an accusative, Non- 
tanto emo poenitere, for poenitentiam ; as an ablative, Dignus 
legi, for lectione or lectu — in dignus amari, is for dignus 
amoris, amori, amorem, amore. "We find in Plautus, a 
good authority, dignus ad earn formam, aliquid — contentus 
aliquid. 

The infinitive is impersonal, having no person nor num- 
ber, and is no mood at all, being indefinite in regard to 
tenses, and is even used for the future, in eras mihi dare 
licet, for daturum : and Virgil uses duci in the future 
tense. 

Grammarians say the infinitive has no future, excepting 
sum, which they allege has fore, from 0uw, fuere fore by 
syncope, but infinitive is rtomen verbi, and is used for all 
cases, and is governed by a preposition, the only instru- 
ment of government, as Canes venandum, where the prepo- 
sition is omitted ; and it is so especially when the infinitive 
mood is added to the substantive, as celer irasci, for irascen- 
dum ; and in the supine the preposition is left out, as eo 
visum,which is only videre. Scaliger admitted no impersonal 
verb but the infinitive, because the so-called impersonal 
may have a third personal, but the infinitive has no per- 
son whatever. 

The verb -substantive is followed by an accusative, even 
with the preposition expressed ; as, est ad crudum alvum. 
It is used for the participle, in Ne desine me am are, for 
amans ; for the indicative, in Omnes omnia bona dicerc, for 
dicebant ; for the imperative, in Sic et tu facere, for facito, 
and in Homer, A. v. 53, rag §iair£p<jai ; for the subjunctive, 
in Te valere gaudeo, for quod valeas. 

.The infinitive depends on the preposition, and of course 
the accusative after it. When we speak positively, we use 
the indicative, otherwise the subjunctive; the infinitive 



60 

being an abstract noun and the first substantive, because 
videre ipsum was used before vita ipsa. 

All parts of verbs are resolvable into the infinitive, and 
if you remove attributes, nothing is left but the bare in- 
finitive. 

When two or many infinitives, connected or not by and, 
are one part of the proposition, and a singular term the 
other part, place the word it before the verb, and make it 
singular ; as, It is the prerogative of virtue to dread no 
eye and to suspect no tongue. 

We have shewn that this mood is invariable, and repre- 
sents every case and mood ; as, Dicere Dei, voluisse Dei, 
says Eucherius, Bishop of Lyons; and in this place no 
word is understood any more than xpv is sa id by gramma- 
rians to be understood in that noble aphorism, iC Ahv 
apiGTsvEiv kcu virdpoypv ijxjjizvai aXXwv" It stands on its 
own basis, and is primitive diction, which some empty cri- 
tics ignore. It is recognised in, To err is human, to for- 
give divine, where the infinitive is employed substantively ; 
and in Italian, Questo dire e superfluo ; and in German, Das 
essen. Should two or more infinitives precede the sentence, 
the verb must be plural. The infinitive naturally coalesces 
with desire, volition, &c. ; as, I will, want, desire to do, &c. 

Under verbs common A. Gellius quotes Cicero, where 
the perfect infinitive is not varied on account of person ; 
as, Quos non est veritum — ponere id — who have not been 
afraid to set, &c. ; and this structure is confirmed by 
Plautus in Justam rem esse oratum volo. 

Hence indeclinability is not confined to what is vulgarly 
taken for the future ; futurum, or fore to be, or about to 
be, is obvious, and so of all verbs. But essem and esse, 
for em and fore, are evidently imperfect of the infinitive. 

As we speak not, and can not speak in the future, so -no 
language can possess a future tense, nor is it philosophical 
to assert the contrary. 



61 

The Sanskrit asmi, to be, has no future, and Grimm has 
shewn that the Teutonic dialects have no simple future. 
The Welsh grammarians give the termination of a future 
to a particular form of the verb, which is used with both a 
future and a present signification. 

In the phrase, Non tarn hebes ut ista dicam, it is not 
translated with a subjunctive, but an infinitive mood ; as, I 
am not so dull as to say so, which suggests that the sub- 
junctive mood does not exist in English. 

He can not abide to take pains is either a rule in gram- 
mar or used in it, but this construction has not been ob- 
served by grammarians. English writers avail themselves 
of every kind of diction, ancient and modern, now adopt- 
ing, now rejecting inflection to write naturally, for writing 
grammatically or elegantly may be different. Gramma- 
rians, at a loss for English construction, appeal to learned 
languages, and if they are against them they say those 
languages have nothing to do with English, and they in- 
sist on analogy in opposition to foreign and domestic 
authority. 

To continue our observations on the infinitive, the pre- 
position to governs the infinitive mood, except where it 
implies do, as I do love — is to love — in which case it is not 
an exclusive sign of this mood (see page 14), but all other 
prepositions govern the participle. The prepositions to, of, 
for, by, with, are connecting media in sentences. 

The primary or adjective verbs as bid, dare, make, &c. 
are used without the sign to, as I dare defy, swear, mount, 
go, &c. Bid him wrestle with affliction— She not denies it 
— Which they not feel — but the radical form of a verb is 
to follow the participle or preposition to, as to write, do 
write. 

To prefixed to a noun invests it with a verbal character, 
and was used to distinguish the infinitive from the 
noun after the infinitive had a distinguishing termination. 



62 

We used to write from to die, for to come, and in 
Gower's fifth book, Confessio Amantis, " In all hast made 
hir yare, Toward hir sister for to fare." This is Greek 
construction. The infinitives and the imperatives were 
originally the same, and Re at the termination of Latin 
infinitives may be the word re in reality. 

In Danish er is equivalent to am, and is the infinitive 
corresponding to res, or thing. The old form as dicier is 
an inversion, though it is thought by Welsford to be the 
Coptic er, meaning to be and do, as all words ending in us 
and ris, as familiaris, primarius, and the future in rus, cor- 
responding to our ary, ery, ory, ury. 

Sometimes this particle was united to the accompanying 
verb, — as T'accomplish, and this is found in Chaucer, who 
preserves or sinks the sounds of his syllables arbitrarily to 
suit convenience. The reader can not at a glance discover 
his scheme of harmony, and it is difficult to do justice to 
the poet's versification in the art of reading poetry aloud 
to an auditory. 

All our poets retain or dismiss termination at will, be- 
cause it is not essential, for when used, the diction is ar- 
tificial, when omitted it is inartificial or natural. Chaucer, 
writing intensively or imperatively uses termination, and 
neglects it when he speaks positively or indieatively, and 
this shews that inflection is the creature of convenience, 
and that it is not necessarily appended to words, and 
that natural language may and does reject inflection at 
will. 

The preposition to has a very extensive power (as shewn 
in the Chapter on Do and To,) and may elegantly supply 
the place of may, can, will, shall, might, could, would, &c. 
— as, He has nothing to comfort him, where all these verbs 
may be applied, as may, &c. — The Son of man has not 
where he shall rest his head — that is where to rest his 
head. 



63 

To, again, between verbs is often suppressed, as "Etherial 
trumpet from onhigh/gan (to) blow." When the adjective 
was introduced into language the system was changed. 
Now the Chinese have no adjectives, and so the infinitive 
mood became an adjective, and invested with that character 
it became possessed of all the power of the infinitive or 
more, for amans is one who loves, and yet the infinitive 
never had this power. 

The Chinese adjective, like our own, is not varied ; the 
same unchangeable monosyllable acts the part of noun, 
verb, and participle, according to its allocation in a sen- 
tence. 

We add here, what should have found a place in the 
last chapter, that this power is not confined to the present 
participle, but extends to all the rest ; for the participle 
unites in itself all the properties of the noun and verb — of 
the noun in amans, of the verb in amans virtutem, 
docturus disciplinam, Ad accusandos homines, legendse 
epistolse, Epidico quserendo, for Epidicum. 

In Hebrew and Arabic and some other Oriental tongues 
the participles have no gender. What we style verb is only 
a noun-substantive, and its terminations are pronouns, or 
the article which gives gender to them, hence the verb is 
said to have gender. 

What is the participle in modern language but the 
gerund, as standing, end, endo ? Did the Normans intro- 
duce their nasal ing for the Saxon end, ind — ? In fine, 
does not the participle or gerund assume the power of a 
mood as in Illo praesente, me absente, praesente nobis for 
me, absente vobis for tc ? where it renders superfluous the 
conjunctions when, while, or rather the adverb used con- 
junctively? Nothing can exceed in elegance this con- 
struction. 

A finite mood varies, and ha3 two tenses, absolute and 
perfect ; the absolute applies to present, past and future. 



64 

A. Gellius remarks, Ci Immobilis est infinitus, necnon et 
gerundium et supinum, nisi suam respuant naturam aut in 
nomine migrant." 

In Homer is such simplicity found that the same verb 
served for past present and future-— now an aorist is so ap- 
plied, termed the first and second indefinite, because it 
implies the three denominations of time — for an illustration 
of this see Odyssey, £5. v. 425, 

Ko*//£ o ava<jypfizvoQ ayjZyTri SpvoQ, r)v \iirz Keiwv — 
Percussit autem in altum tollens quern liquit profectus 
stipite querno. — 

It is thought the infinitive in Greek was tvtttev, but Lord 
Monboddo says ru7rr£/x£vcu was contracted through prolix 
variations to tvtttuv and tvtttzv. 

The perfect participle passive ought to signify that 
which has been done ; TirekevfjLivov Igtcll means not, shall 
have been finished, but shall be finished completely ; and Dr. 
Clarke calls the preterperfect the present perfect, while 
Lord Monboddo turns the past perfects into aorists. 

Now an aorist means a tense unlimited in its operations, 
and which may be applied to present past and future time, 
expressed or implied — and the Greeks support this view of 
an aorist , and it is used by them as its meaning implies, 
a, ojooc, infinite in time and tense. 

The Latins style verbs inceptive or inchoative, as caleo, 
calesco, which termination is only ew tw, Ioko), to be or be- 
come, as 7ra£w, 7raw, pasco-paesco. The Latins have nothing 
analogous to an aorist, but in Homer the present and 
perfect tenses are similarly employed, and so with the Attic 
poets, which evinces the universality of its use. 

Harris in Hermes says that jue'XXw ypafeiv is the inceptive 
present, but uv is really the same as the aorist. The first 
conception of an aorist has not been given by any gram- 
marian that I have read. Now el$bv, I saw, is an aorist and 
indefinite, and is so if it stand alone and is unapplied, but 



65 

not so if the time of the action is specified, as I saw it 
yesterday; because to apply an indefinite tense to a definite 
time would be an impropriety. 

We have but two tenses in English which correspond to 
the aorists in Greek, properly termed the first and second 
indefinite or indeterminate time, that is present and im- 
perfect; first preterit or imperfect, second preterit or aorist, 
as I loved, or should love, because they are applicable to 
present past and future without distinction. They are 
also convertible, so are all the tenses in Greek ; for inflec- 
tion was adopted partly to diversify expression and partly 
to avoid ambiguity, for the theory of speech or systematic 
grammar was not considered a science till the days of 
w Philip's waxlike son," when Greece had one standard, the 
Attic, which was not originally the purest dialect. 

Hermes criticises Milton unjustly in these lines — 
" Millions of spiritual creatures walk the earth 
Unseen, both when we wake and when we sleep." 

Here walk means not they were walking at that instant 
only, but aopto-rwc indefinitely ; but there the time is 
positively determined by when. So it is contrary to the rule 
Hermes wishes to establish, for we lay it down in canon 32, 
page 13, that time is and ever has been expressed by a noun 
or an adverb, for time is not an essential appendage to the 
verb, though time is divisible and extended, and has a be- 
ginning middle and end, and to indicate these points 
tenses have been formed artificially, when aorists were 
used for all times and tenses — and Hermes remarks, we 
seldom hear of aorists in the future tense and still more 
rarely in the present, yet this admits there are aorists 
in these tenses. Though these forms are called second aorists 
they have a future signification in early writers, as Hero- 
dotus, B. I. c. 5. f £2c ctv /uirj KaraSrjXoc ytvrirai, and again, 
C. 29, bpKioiai yap fjLzya\oi(Ti KarziyovTO. 



66 



On the Words Do and To. 

It may be deemed visionary to endeavour to shew an 
identity between the words Do and To — but if the accom- 
panying illustrations and citations bring not conviction to 
the mind of the reader, the author is content to leave this 
identity as a theory, although he can not see why this 
identity should not exist ; for before words were multiplied 
one and the same rejoiced in several applications, hence they 
had many intentions, which on analysis were found to 
possess little more meaning than their primaries. 

It is a canon in etymology, that that language is its 
parent, where the true signification can be found, and 
where its use is common, accepted and familiar. 

A word had one meaning and one meaning only 
originally. I infer that to and do are identical, and this in- 
trinsic meaning is to be found, and the cause of its different 
application also, and in support of this conjecture, 1 refer 
to Richardson's Dictionary, Section III. 

Grammarians say, no two words are synonymous, not 
because they are sure of this observation, but because it 
ought to be so, for nature never adopts but what is suggested 
by necessity. 

The parent stock of synonymes is tropes and figures, 
by which language becomes abstracted and refined, which 
is the cause of adventitious and metaphorical senses, and 
words of divers intentions and misprision of terms. Were 
a redundance to pervade a language, we might be said to 
speak, as Hudibras jocosely says of Cerberus, " a leash of 
languages at once." 

TO, prefixed to a noun invests it with a verbal character, 
and DO is prefixed to other parts of the verb undistinguished 
from the noun by termination, and to those parts only. 
The radical form of a verb is to follow the particle to. 



67 

According to the writer of the Diversions of Purley, 
these words, which some would-be critics imagine are no 
relation, are by him derived from very same root and stirps, 
being perfectly identical. The difference between t and d 
is very small, and in derivations it is hardly worth regard- 
ing . To and do are rarely used by Chaucer, because the 
do was implied in the termination ; so instead of saying, I 
did love, I lov-ec? is used — the same if he doth love — he 
loved, is used, because the do is an affix. 

Now, do is a verbal sign, hence we see there is no 
caprice in employing to and do so differently from the 
practice of other languages, whereby we can use both the 
termination and sign. If a distinguishing termination is 
used, then do is omitted, the termination fulfilling the 
office, hence, consisted for consists — the etli being in the 
do, as he asketh : doth he ? In Gaelic, the words do and 
to are the same, de and do being of, and to answering ours 
in the dative case. 

TO is the past tense of the Gothic verb tauyan to do, 
says H. Tooke, which proves its identity. If this be 
admitted by those puny intellects and contrary heads, who 
have exposed in reviews their perversity and crass obstinacy 
in denying it, by asking what does all this mean ? Let it 
be proclaimed that to is no other than the very verb to do, 
and as the foundation of all verbs is a substantive condition, 
both do and to may be taken substantively. Hence, the 
act, eat, eating, do eat and to eat are synonymous. This 
same do is found at the end of words as endo in fact, for 
info — inflammanc/o is inflaming, and is to and do inflame, 
elliptically. 

There is then no violence in inferring that the infinitive, 
the participle and gerund are the same, and occasionally 
both are used substantively, as in inuendo — the doing, 
in which the learned languages agree, as endo urbc for in 
urbe. See 12 Tables of Roman law. 

p 2 



68 

Non est solvendo (seri is understood) taken substantively 
is, he is insolvent ; as radix est edendo, the root is for eating, 
ergo, (which is the Greek Ipyto,) means it is edible. 

Again, in the phrase, dictu quam re facilius, we have, 
It is easier to say than to do, or in the doing. 

Now the termination and means continuation, like 
end, and was the termination of all our vulgarly termed 
participles present, in reality corresponding to our Latin 
gerunds, as rolling or rollend stone, volvendus lapis. 

In the Persian word, hastan to be, we may recognise 
haben to have, and so the terminations an and en, endo, 
into. An is a verbal root of hast-an, and ast, means, he is. 

The Arabic and Hebrew tongues follow the Persian 
exactly in their verbal arrangement, and in the nature and 
form of their inflections. There is only one word in Arabic, 
for to be and to have; indeed it is rather have only. The 
Arabic infinitive is a verbal noun substantive in the accu- 
sative case, and corresponds to the gerund endo. 

I cite here, from the Twelve Tables : Hominem mortuum 
endo urbe, nei sepeleito, neive urito. 

Endo fonere, tribos ricinieis, rica porporea, decemque 
tibicinebos vestier licito, hoc pious nei facito. 

Patri endo filium qui ex se matre que familias natus est, 
vitai necisque potestad estod. 

Endo gredi — ingredi — endo pedite, impedite, indupera- 
tor, imperator are commonly found. 

So we are led to the accusative case — Endo is equivalent 
to indu, du and tu being alike and equivalent to to. And 
this may assign a key, if not too far fetched, to the pro- 
nunciation of tu and du in tutor and duty, for they have 
the same sound in B. Jonson^s Sad Shepherd, act II. s. 1. 

" Gang thy gait, and du thy turnes betimes ; or I'se 
gar take thy new breikes fra thee and thy doublet tu. 3 ' 
Gar means cause or prepare. 

There are three words in Persian for to be. Sudan, 



69 

hastan, and shadan — hence shum the Latin sum — sunt, they 
are, is from the Sanskrit santi, and is also the Scythian 
hwynt ; the pronoun they being at the end of the verb, as 
I proved the article to be in both Latin and Greek, as 
Xoyog — domin-us — a custom common in oriental tongues, 
especially in Sanskrit, as Baan~oh arrow the. The same 
in Persian, where the article i is used for a, and in the 
plural ha is added, as Gul rose, Gul-i-a, roses. 

To apply and to appreciate this secret is of infinite use 
in grammatical analysis, why therefore are not terminations 
of words made a part of instruction as distinct and impor- 
tant words? A judicious arrangement of common ter- 
minations in modern and unspoken tongues, with a short 
syntax, would be of unequivocal service to students and do 
honour to literature. A few pages would suffice to initiate 
youth into some of the mysteries of speech ; and I here 
again refer to the vocables do and to, whose extensive 
applications in our tongue prove them to be the cardinal 
words in primitive diction, for such there was, although 
some overweening grammarians totally abjure it. 

I do you to wit, means I give you to understand ; notum 
vobis facimus, we do make known to you all. The same 
to is found in to day ; to-morrow, to-night, data nocte. 

If you do, is give that you do ; for da and do is included 
in the if, written zif by antique scholars. So, is only 
though, which is doch in German — and equivalent to do and 
to. I will tho' — so pronounced, the French use it in oui 
da — yes tho 3 , indeed. 

To do means also to kill, and is the very same as duo in 
Latin, and tuer in French. Duid, he kills, in the Twelve 
Tables — hence, all its compounds perdo, perduo — from 
which arises our dede to do ; the quick and the dede, cru- 
cified, dede and buried. 

We also say done to death — which is do, and down. It 
is found in don, do on, and dofF, do, off. 



70 

" He aras up and adun sat." Here to and down are the 
same. Brut d'angleterre by Layamon, 12th century. 

Do was ado ; human speech originated in popular sim- 
plicity, and not in scholastic refinement to which it came 
by time. Hence primordial diction became inflected, as 
we find it in all grammatical accidents. 

Is not ad the reverse of da or do and de ? Tooke de- 
rives ed, the termination of our words as loved, from actum, 
which is preposterous. In symbolical diction it is easily 
understood, for a or e terminated by d the closer, or the 
imperative do inverted — it is only do, the old German 
tuon, and in the word Sohida, I sought, we find its so- 
lution in, I seek, did. Sokcando — seeking, or in search. 

If ed means up, de must be down — hence, symbolical 
writing was originally conducted on the same principles 
of simplicity and precision with the arithmetic art as X 
means 10 and XI means 11. So the converse of X means 
9, IX. One being placed before a greater number has a 
power of abstraction, while I, placed after it, has an aug- 
mentative influence. 

Words are few in origin, and Adelung, in his Mith- 
ridates, says that all radicals are but a few hundreds in 
any language ; some 500 having been enumerated in Sans- 
krit, some 1288 in Greek, and about 1000 in Latin. 

It is incorrect to imagine that a letter possesses an essen- 
tial power more than a figure. Its force when alone, and its 
power in apposition, depend on convention ; as ad, to, up 
— De, from, down — ad-scendo, de-scendo. One, is affirma- 
tive, and the converse is negative, no. On this argument 
depends the analysis of every conjunction, verb, preposi- 
tion, in speech. 

To and do signify the deed or act, which placed before 
another noun expresses the energy. Does not the energy 
reside in the agent ? Do not the terminations eth, ed, en, 
point the energy or apprise us to what object it is to be 



71 

transferred ? Looheth is equivalent to do or to look, some- 
times expressed by an equivalent or synonymous term, 
such as at, in, with ; as, he loveth her — that is, his love is 
on, in, at, with her, &c. 

Sometimes the energy is transferred to the object, when 
the passage is not resolvable by on, in, &c. Do and undo, 
on and in, are referable to the same source. See Grimm's 
Grammar, vol. i. p. 1040. 

In declarative propositions do is not used. Ex. : I know 
it j but if we speak emphatically it is used : as, I do know 
it — Do come. In negative and interrogative propositions 
do is indispensable. Ex. : I do know it — Do I not 
know it ? 

Do, shall, will, may, &c. are sometimes omitted, which 
has induced grammarians to suppose that we have a sub- 
junctive mood in English, which I have combated; as, 
Unless he wash my feet — If he but touch the mountain. 
Here do is implied, which solves the construction. 

I have nothing to cheer me, that is, might, may, could, 
&c, so that the words do and to perform the office of all 
the terms which have been mistakenly styled auxiliary 
verbs. 

Manners maketh men, that is, do make. Here lieth 
the body of A B, that is, do lie — I am the Lord that 
maketh — do make. Eth is an essential and independent 
word, and constitutes no part of the word to which it is 
joined. 

II. Tooke says that do is only applied as the English 
use it. He was not aware of the comprehensiveness of its 
application, being one of the most universal vocables in 
any tongue, and I reiterate it, a cardinal word. 

Be and do by transposition supersede the use of con- 
junctive particles, an elegance unknown in modern lan- 
guages, and in our tongue all inflection is rendered unne- 
cessary by position. How simple and how natural. Why 



72 

is the verb without an inflection after a conjunction ? Be- 
cause the conjunction is equivalent to the verb do ; conse- 
quently the verb dependent on it cannot assume the 
termination. We do not say Do loveth, but do love. 
Thus : if though he read be equivalent to do he read, the 
termination can not have place, which is another proof of 
the extensive application of do and to. 

The use of this significant monosyllable is not confined 
to English; it is recognised in the learned tongues, but 
being varied it does not strike the reader so forcibly. 

The termination of the verb th is to be found in the 
Saxon usitk, and is the initial of do. This th is sometimes 
converted into s, which is no more than t aspirated ; hence 
the variety resulting from the commutation of th and s. 
We find an instance in quod:, quoth, written cwsed, quithan. 
We say, Quoth he and never he quoth. 

Go was written goo, and pronounced as do, written 
adoe. " That longen folk to gon on pilgrimage " — go or 
begone. 

In the solemn style do is frequently used, particularly in 
Scripture, and the omission of it is confined principally to 
the familiar style of writing, when applied in an active 
sense ; but when used passively its presence is indispensable; 
as, I saw him do it. 

Some words when used in active form are not followed. 
by to ; but when used passively to can be suppressed ; as, 
Our Saviour bids us offer our prayers in his name. 

The sense requires no other mode in all our eminent 
authors, possessing advantages not easily discriminated in 
other languages, and these become laws in it. 

In the phrase of Spenser, Bitter curses horrible to tell, 
critics say it should be horrible to be told. Again : Did 
quake to hear and nigh asunder brast. 

Now here did and brast are in the same tense, which 
justifies the following biblical translation — Did he not fear 



73 

the Lord and besought the Lord, and the Lord repented 
him of the evil which he had pronounced against him. 

Here did and besought are in the same tense, and are 
analogically expressed. It does not follow because did in 
the former part of the period is expressed that it should in 
the latter be understood. The interrogative and explica- 
tive sentences are not confounded ; for the second and 
third sentences are inferential, and not interrogative, as 
Dr. Lowth supposes. 

Besought is equivalent to did beseech, as brast is to did 
burst ; and both are elegant instances of genuine eloquence 
and afford a variety of diction, which enhance and give 
change and charm to composition. 

I have now advanced satis superque to prove that the 
preposition to is identical with do, and in sustentation I 
will cite this last evidence. We arrive to Exeter, a phrase 
now obsolete or local, once common. It means obviously 
I go, do go — extent Exeter — at, ad, both noting comple- 
tion, in which the word do is not only implied, but is ac- 
tually identical, and with affiance I aver (against all 
critics and gainsayers, who have neither studied these 
points nor care about them, but in reviews love to depreciate 
rather than approve, and against whom it is below one's 
dignity to shew uneasiness or resentment) that these cita- 
tions and facts are, 

The imputation and strong circumstance 
Which lead directly to the door of truth ; 

And that in these proofs adduced, the words Do and To are 
one and the same, is a truth, which may be received by all 
who philosophically cultivate science and appreciate the 
phenomena of language — the agency by which we laud 
our Creator, and declare the wonders that he docth for the 
children of men. 



74 



On Have and Of. 



What I suggest here may be considered a speculation 
and untenable, wanting in proof sufficient or verisimilitude 
to command acquiescence, but as it bears on the preceding 
chapter I introduce it to be held as a theory, until it be 
subverted or confirmed by happier industry or future in- 
formation. I solicit only that these chapters may be 
ingenuously considered and not recklessly decried, as in an 
inconsiderate review* of the first edition of this Tractate, 
and then my conviction is that the affinities ascribed to the 
particles and words will be fully established, regardless of 
the petty cavils of petty minds. " Appensus fuisti lancibus 
et inventus est minore pondere " may be applied to the 
critic as well as the publicist. 

There is much more unity in language than is supposed ; 
the materies materia, if not reducible to one element, is 
on analysis found to be so simple that one word is applica- 
ble to many senses and employed in many intentions. 

I think lingual affinities are perceptible between the 
verb Have, and Of the preposition — as I thought to and 
do to be the same word, so I find that of is akin to both 
— all prepositions are reducible to these two prepositions, 
of and to, as far as case is concerned. Of means father, 
and is the general preposition, while to is the particular 
preposition. 

The efficient cause in English is expressed by of, from, 
by, with, through, &c, which styled particles are no more 
in derivation than these, viz. of is have ; from is the same 
as frame, through is door, &c. ; now all prepositions alluding 
to the ablative case are synonymous, as I die of, for, by, 

* Saturday Review, 19 Nov. 1859. 



75 

from, through, with hunger — so all prepositions have the 
same import or are implied as connective particles, having 
lost their primitive significations ; hence a particle is a 
sign of a relative idea made absolute by its application. 

The Latins neglected the prepositions and the Greeks 
cultivated them and disregarded the case, for their pre- 
positions applied to almost all cases, as Utor libris quibus 
habeo. 

I say with, assurance that all the cases in the learned 
languages depend on the equivalents of and. to — and all the 
compound tenses of verbs also depend on these prepositions, 
as J'ai du, I owed him, or to him — here to and of are 
blended and are significant. 

The preterperfect in English means possession, as I 
have done it, or possess it in fact ; done means in fact — 
indeed — and inferentially is equivalent to have and of 
which I do not scruple to derive from Ab, father in many 
oriental tongues and dialects, as in composition ab-el, ab- 
on, ab-or. It is found in the Greek cnro, and in the Welsh 
ab, ap. Tad means father, and ab, ap, are used for son, Mab ; 
as Owen ap Jenkin, the letter s is often affixed, as Jenkins, 
which means out of existence — or kin to Jones, or John, 
a very extensive praenomen, and is the same as Hanno in 
Carthaginian ; Hanni-Bal, from Baal, means Lord John. 
The Hebrew had Joannes, which name Bryant identifies 
with Jonah — Berosus calls Noah Oannes — a dove, Ion — 
and every language in Europe has John for Christian 
name, under some form, as Giovanni, Jean, Johan, &c. 

O in Welsh is out of — from — oc, odd. At, is preposition 
for to ; Pappa and Pappus signify father in Egyptian, and 
in Homer, Odyssey, Z. v. 57, Ilainra ^)tXf — is dear father — 
cnriayii, is fatherland ; and the words have, had, hov, arc 
only modifications of the same word of, implying to also. So 
these two prepositions are found in haved, of, which is 
another variety of ought, Eidhov in Celtic is my own, 



76 

which hov is only have. In Gaelic de and do, which is of, 
means also to. While da in Chaldaic means the — as 
Demeter, Arjjurjr^ — the mother — Ceres. Mithyr in 
Egypt is related to the ark, said to be mother of mankind 
in Ethnic mythology. 

A is for aught, na for naught, o is ought, no nought — 
and not comes from nought, and all descend from owe. 
Debeo is only De-habeo — and devoir in French but de- 
avoir. Ought is the past tense of owe, which is of — and 
discovered where it may be and disguised, it is but the old 
dog in a new doublet ; ought is often written improperly 
for aught, meaning anything — as for aught I know. 

A and o may be abbreviations of aught and ought, being 
written indiscriminately. Nay, naught, none, not one. — 
The spelling, as in many words before orthography was 
fixed, was arbitrary — indeed orthography may be said 
never to be settled, but words like lands have a limit to 
their right, and it is more politic to leave them, and pro- 
nunciation also, vexata questiones, than disturb them after 
a long possession. 

A, an, ane, awen, o, on, oon, one, seem to be abbrevia- 
tions, like act, ocht, aught, ought, odd, owed, owen, own, 
one, all deducing from owe, which corresponds to the Latin, 
ans, ens, and to the Greek wv, being fons et origo. 

et A marchant man that he ought money to — that enquire 
what him was best to do." — Off was written of, — auf, of, off, 
and is equivalent to abi, begone, Via, via — allez vous en — 
off with you — like too written to, as to lset for too late. 
Saxon. 

The modern Greeks do and probably the ancients did, 
pronounce the genitive case of \6yog, Xoyov, as logof — 
which of denotes possessive case or possession, the same 
as have, when traced to its radix. 

To have and to owe have been shewn to be identical, as 
is evidenced in this phrase, The man who oweth this girdle, 



77 

(Acts of Apostles) — is the same as hath it; and this etymo- 
logy is reinforced in Phomme a qui est cette ceinture — 
Virum cujus vel cui est zona hsec. 

What you have of another is due, which points to the 
identity of habeo and esse. They are equivalent, commu- 
table and synonymous — Ex : Hast thou hunger then, for 
art thou hungry ? — Milton. «Pai chand, I am warm, or 
have warmth. II fait froid, it is cold ; il fait nuit, it is 
night. All etymologists recognise the fact that one sim- 
ple word supplies many meanings and shades of meaning — 
which is shewn in the multitudinous forms of have, hab, 
ab, of ought, debere, devoir, and when thus applied it is 
styled primitive diction. 

Such affinities are perfectly obvious in of and to, both 
noting possession ; hence two apparently dissimilar terms 
really and substantially are one and the same ; nor is it 
surprising that these prepositions are synonymous and 
analogical, when it is considered that cause and effect are 
concomitant, and can not be separated even in imagina- 
tion, for they are of such a nature that the latter derives 
its existence from the former, so that the effect is the pro- 
perty of the cause, as it is contained in it. We aver 
again therefore, that IS, the universal copula, the substan- 
tive verb to be, is the universal genus, to which all things 
at all times may be referred, and so termed the general 
genus, is used for have, and is equivalent to of or have, of 
which it is the abbreviation. 

We affirmed, despite the sneer which fell dead-born, of 
one who derided this hypothesis in a newspaper, and who 
undertook a task for which no one was so little qualified, and 
we reiterate now, that TO is the reciprocal of du, or is 
mutually interchangeable with it, and we adduce the phrase, 
Qui doit faire cela? Who is to do that? which is equal in 
word and meaning to who shall, will, ought to do that? and 
so if I appreciate, or ('valuer an juste, my theory or rather 



78 

proof, I may, without hyperbole, aver that these affinities 
are obvious, but not to all, for who can expect it, that 
those whom nature destined to be hewers of wood and 
drawers of water can be philosophical inquirers, conversant 
with language, the vehicle of thought, that great and 
efficient instrument in meditation ? 

Dr. Blair, a name worth shoals of such pretenders, the 
fond few who dam up literature and try to repress rather 
than incite to inquiry, remarks that the structure of lan- 
guage is extremely artificial, but there are few sciences in 
which a deeper and more refined logic is employed than in 
grammar. 

Of denotes the genitive case, which I surmise may be 
found in the letter s, as mos, moris — of signifies author, 
and moris may be a transposition of ex-more. So we get 
to the root of s contracted for is, and which was wont to 
be marked c on antique monuments. 

Plurality is expressed by s, and in Chinese by en, as 
muen, more. This termination in English added to words 
notes addition, as, ox-en. Es, written also ec, notes ex- 
tension, which is plurality, and may be traced to the He- 
brew Issa vira, according to Bochart, signifying she-man 
— and although our word woman could be derived from 
of-man, by transposition — wo-ov, of, without violence, yet 
its origin is admitted to be womb-man. 

The particle ce } is the same as es. — Ex. : Onies, twies, 
pennies, dice, mice, which es is synonymous like en, with 
time, denoting extension ; as hous-en — wh-en— the-en — 
theo-en. In the words length- en — leather-en — war-en 
to make aware, and ent in monu-ment, en is the same. 
So the an in partiz-an — in as matine — alexandrine, the 
principle is the same. 

The Romans continually prefixed s to Greek words, 
which s is only out of, meaning existence ; as in as, es, is, 
os, us, and is the possessive case of nouns, forming also 



79 

the third person singular of verbs, and is equivalent to 
the and. that. See Richardson's Dictionary, Section III. 

Now es, ek, ex, issuing from the cause, is only plurality 
expressed by s, when elocution requires it, whether we 
consider the termination s as Keltic, Gothic, or Greek, it 
imports but that it corresponds to the Saxon of or to. 
Before the Trojan war s resembled a semicircle c, as found 
on the Sigean monument, and this favours the idea that 
to and of differing apparently, yet really agree. 

Avowedly ec is es, which combination is equivalent to 
our from, of, out, &c. as ec-fociant, fly off, for the Umbriau 
and Tuscan u was not then adopted. This proves that 
5 or ec is the preposition ec transposed and inverted, which 
inversion constitutes what is termed case in artifical lan- 
guage. 

So convenient and general is the application of s or es — 
that the English, who retain nothing but what is useful 
in factitious language, can and do with this termination 
express every casual relation of the most complicate 
dialects — Ex. : Cujum pecus ? Regium vel Regis — Cui 
pecus ? Regi, ad quern pecus ? ad Regem — a quo pecus ? a 
Rege. So we say whose cattle ? the king's — &c. This 
looks minute, but " les choses les plus petites deviennent 
grandes, quand elles peuvent servir aux grandes." 

The word had is used comprehensively for I would have, 
and by some it has been thought a solecism or abnormal, 
as I had rather not — but this sentence is elliptical and 
hypothetical, and means I had rather not, were it left to 
my choice. 

The unlearned take their ideas from nature, and adopt 
no expressions but such as necessity requires, and are often 
right when the philosopher diverges. Some on encoun- 
tering this difficulty place it beyond control, and give it 
up, assigning it a metaphysical meaning, as many faint- 
hearted wights throw up their cards on losing a trick. 



80 

There are really no metaphysical ideas, for that logical term 
means with nature, but posterior in the order of inquiry, 
and not beyond or above nature. 

I consider that any true philologer or ingenuous student, 
who are not routineers by practice, but who cultivate philo- 
sophical grammar, in the words of, to, and have, of so large 
application, may discover the analysis of every case in lan- 
guage j so will fly many difficulties in the career of litera- 
ture, which is an increasing source of rational pleasure, for 
language involves the most recondite mysteries of human 
intercourse, and is the basis of every intellectual struc- 
ture. 

On the Articles The and A. 

The is called the definite, and a the indefinite article — 
but both the articles are definitive — although a is said to 
leave the individual undetermined, and the fixes him. 

H. Tooke derives THE from the Saxon verb Dean, which 
means acquisition, and which may account for the omission 
of the relatives who, which, Sfc. when the has been ex- 
pressed. Ex. : The man I saw — the house I built — the 
trees I sold; thus rendering its equivalents that, which, 
who, whom, tautologous. 

The article the is sometimes omitted, and may so be 
with propriety, before superlatives, when they are used 
in an eminent or emphatic sense and require a definite the 
most. This fault is imputed to Scotch writers — but 
natural language has privileges unknown to artificial. 

In a direct address, or when the superlative is preceded 
by a possessive term, the is inadmissible (but on other 
occasions it should be used) as, He is my best friend ; you 
are my son's sincerest friend. 

The language of England is elliptical and beautifully 
so in prose and rhyme, which renders it laconic and 
energetic. At most, at least, at best, all these expressions 



81 

are more energetic than if the were interposed — these are 
ellipses, which are omissions either in a word or the in- 
flections of a word. 

The article the was sometimes prefixed to the pronoun 
relatives. The which is used in the sacred roll, and that 
the article the was used as a relative appears in the Lord's 
Prayer, before that and who were adopted and preferred; 
for when the was succeeded by that, its distinction was 
changed — who has succeeded that and which. 

Now the, that, which, a, an, one are all identical — as a 
man, not two or anything else — this notes extraction, as 
the thing extracted out of, &c. 

H. Tooke admits all words to have a meaning: — and he 
adds, Articles supply the place of words which are not in 
the language ; and we may ask, can non-entity occupy 
place, and what has no existence have a meaning ? 

Rules are introduced to restrain the exuberance of 
popular diction; they are rather to be read, not com- 
mitted to memory to be learned by rote. 

In many instances we find the is the article in English, 
as the terminations in Greek and Latin nouns are the 
articles — in fact this principle obtains in Sanskrit and 
Persian also, supplying the place of an article by a ter- 
mination of those nouns which they would indefinitely 
particularise, as Baan-o^, arrow the, and in Gal a flower, 
i is added. 

When we say " St. Paul the is the highest preacher the 
we habbeth in holy Kirk," it is obvious that the is the rela- 
tive as well as the article in both these places ; and again, 
the is the relative who, and represents the Saxon thaet, 
that or who, which seems to derive from tha, the, signify- 
ing the same. Ex. : Ealle tha the hyt gehyrden — all they 
who it heard. Again, Our fader the in heofunum eart— 
who —Them the scyldigat with us. Those who trespass, 
against us. See page 7, Canon 5. 

G 



82 

Literal roots are usec^ prefixes and suffixes, as os, us, &c. 
being article and relative too. They are even put in 
medio, and are the elements of all words in all languages, 
for each was used, and was an indivisible, intelligent sound 
in its original intrinsic meaning. This is primitive diction, 
or the primeval form of speech, the esoteric doctrine for 
the scholar. 

Articles supply the place of words not in the language, 
although all words are significant. 

The article a and the have not the affinity to the Greek 
article which they are supposed to have. I believe that 
the Greek article notes and distinguishes the gender only. 

We distinguish gender by he and she, in which the 
Greek and English coincide. It is abstract, noting ab- 
sence of gender or indefinite without regard to sex, for we 
can predicate he and she of it, but not of I, we, they. 

Ille and iste ; hie and iste are said of one near, while 
Me is said of one remote. Ipse is of all persons, but 
generally joined with the primitives, as Ego ipse, me ipse 
consolor. Hie liber est mei or meus, that is elliptical, mean- 
ing mea interest causa ; to avoid ambiguity, Hie liber est 
mei solius. 

The Latin article does not mean the in hie labor, hoc 
opus, but this the labour, this the work. So I surmise that 
in both the learned languages the articles are only used to 
shew the gender, and have no necessary affinity to the 
English article. 

The pronoun ille may be verbally and gracefully trans- 
lated the; as Ille virhaud magna cum re, sedplenu* fidei.* 
The man though poor, yet faithful. 

Are we to omit the article in English if omitted in 
Greek ? If so, what becomes of lv my 17/itv l\a\r\az ? 
In (the) Son spake he to us. — We are not then to seek the 
English article in Greek, they have no affinity. 

In the sentence dg to ovo/ma, which means in the name, 



83 

we have the article to imply the, which is taken for the 
virtue and power of God, but it is not necessarily prefixed 
to nouns. 

Words should not be transposed if the sense may 
be obscured, as The wages of sin is death. Hermes 
says on this proposition, to which I have before adverted, 
that death is the subject and wages is the predicate, and 
Dr. Walker has copied this error under the word Predicate 
in his Dictionary. 

We have remarked that the article in Greek was used 
to exhibit the gender before inflection was adopted. It 
was afterwards transposed and made a termination, when 
its former use was superfluous and ought to have been dis- 
continued ; but it was retained like many other particles 
for exuberance of sound, in which the Greek was pre- 
eminent. Hence the impossibility of reducing it to rule 
and determining its application; but we still think that its 
origin and use are different from the English article. 

Languages supposed to have no article use it in prefixes, 
and in their terminations. The Mceso-gothic demonstra- 
tive pronoun or article, is sa, so, thata, which is only 6g, 
7), 6 ; said to be originally rbg, rrj, to — but some think it 
was cog, a a, to, and so the etymon of the pronoun was 
similar in Greek and Sanskrit — and the Latin iste is the 
equivalent, being os, and is, with te added, and may be 
derived from ta, te, tha, equivalent to der, diu, daz. Sec 
Pritchard's Celtic Nations, p. 261. 

The personal index thee is to be found with a single e in 
old writers — and Love answered, I trust the without borrowe, 
I wool none. Again, Wei his the, corresponding to bene 
est tibi. Esther viii. 8. So that English government 
regarding the article the and his, the symbol of possession, 
lies here and can lie but here. This is the germ of meta- 
physical syntax ; it consists of abstraction and is as 
invisible as its divine original. 

g2 



84 

The is used emphatically in these examples — In that 
quarrel use it to the death. I persecuted this way to the 
death. This was the Son of God. Painted to the life. 

The is used in a particular sense, and is agreeable to 
the Greek. Dr. Lowth and his contemporaries were 
ignorant of the relative article being annexed to nouns in 
Greek and Latin. 

When we say the twelve, we mean elliptically those who 
go by that name ; as Paul the apostle, he who is so called 
by eminence — the poet, one so styled. Hence, the, which, 
what, that, are all identical and are correspondent to qui, 
quse, quod — and 6c, v> 6. 

I have never seen it advanced that the article and 
relative are identical, but I suggest it for the consideration 
of those who are friends to such inquiries, as well as the 
opinion that the article in Greek expresses the gender 
only, and does not correspond to our article. 

The and thee have a common origin, the speaking only 
determining the difference, as Unto the tel I my tale. 
— Lawrence Minot's poem. 

The throne of thee who art God is for ever and ever. 
This is consonant with the Greek text. " Truly this was 
the Son of God." Matth. xxvii. 54, and Mark xv. 39, 
viog Oaou, a Son of God, or of a God. (Dr. Lowth.) But 
the critic would not have objected to this version, God's 
Son, which is correspondent with the original even to the 
letter. 

Possessives are frequently but improperly used for the 
definite article; and the is sometimes incorporated with 
the substantive, as Thenvoye of fortune. — Chaucer. 

In English a change of article alters the sense, as 
Nathan said unto David, Thou art the man — which could 
not be a man. Minute changes may induce serious effects. 

" Hse nugse seria ducunt, In mala." 

Proper names, when they retain their nature, never ad- 
mit the article before them, as Tout Rome, tout Paris — and 



85 

a pleonastic form is used, when the French or Italians 
say, The Malibran, or the Mercandotti, the Grisi, &c. 

If the numerical article a is omitted in language it is 
obvious, as it is in Algebra, the most perfect species of 
written language from its extreme simplicity and precision. 
A, an, one, are synonymous, and are used when we name an 
existence with emphasis. Since every letter in the alphabet 
is a part of it, so every word is apart of language. It is 
not necessary to use an article in a definition, the subject 
being divested of this essential appendage, according to 
Aristotle. 

A king, is every king — a man is bom to trouble, means 
every man. God gives reason to a man. Now both a 
and the are definite. No word can be more definite or 
less indeterminate than one or unity. A n:ec.as being. 
Who breaks a butterfly upon a wheel. — Pope, 

Dr. Lowth confounds the prepositive and the definite 
articles. We have already said the former the in Greek 
shews the gender only, and corresponds to he and she. 
This was its original institution, which was found necessary 
to distinguish the male from the female before inflection 
took place, when it might have been omitted ; but the 
Greeks were unwilling to surrender words once adopted, 
and therefore they retained the use of it for the same pur- 
poses, but particularly for one distinct end, to ascertain 
the gender, for without it many languages are rendered 
obscure. We are so accustomed to assume that an article 
is used before nouns, that we do not easily induce our- 
selves to think it can indicate the gender only. It appears 
so to me, hence I have suggested it with deference. 

It is a comparative form of expression where the is in- 
troduced, as the more, the better, answering to the German 
je besser — and indeed yea more, yea better, would be 
correct ; the is not an article then here, but a corruption 
of the German je, and ja — and being used as a compara- 
tive conjunction, it signifies by how much, by so much. 



86 



On Pronouns and Relatives. 

Pronouns are various — indefinite as who, receptive as 
whom, which ; personal as I } she, it, me, him, her ; possessive, 
my, ours, they, his s theirs ; relative, who, which, whether ; 
demonstrative as this, that, other, some. It is a neutral 
demonstrative, as it was he. 

A pronoun is not used instead of a noun, as grammarians 
teach, but in preference to a noun, and the verb is virtually 
implied in the pronoun or included in it. 

An abstract term signifies the mode or quality of an 
existence without regard to the subject in which it resides. 
Ex. : Blacksmith, roundness, &c. 

A concrete term always refers to some subject, as black, 
round. 

An attribute includes the relative and copula, when we 
say a man, we mean an existence which is styled man ; so 
good man, one so admitted to be. 

In the Sanskrit syntax the personal and other pronouns 
are often omitted, as are their nominatives in the Latin, 
the termination of a word being a sufficient distinction. 
Hence, inversely, English authors have elegantly 
omitted the termination when the pronoun was expressed, 
for inspired, we have 

Ci Oh thou my voice inspire 
Who touched Isaiah's hallowed lips with fire."— Pope. 

Ascham in his Toxophilus says, " He that will write 
well in any tongue must follow Aristotle's counsel : 
Speak as the common people do, and think as wise men 
do, so should every man understand him, and the judgment 
of wise men allow him." 

It is needless to add there are anomalies in pronouns as 
well as in every other part of speech. The pronoun ich is 
found united to the verb in German, as icham for I am — 
Schabbe for I have — Ichot, I wot. Ich, Ig, I, are the same as 
ego, and it is thought that iw, and esse are derived from ego. 



87 

Identity as / is no more susceptible of multiplication than 
unity. If we is the plural of I, it must mean two or more 
selves. There is no radical identity to be found between the 
first and second regular pronouns, and their pretended 
plurals. There is a similarity in personal pronouns between 
Sanskrit, Celtic, Gothic, Latin and English. In this 
affirmation Prichard and "Welsford concur. 

The Sanskrit aham, the pronoun for I, ego, consists of 
two elements, viz. ah and am — but the latter is a termina- 
tion only — ah being the root — which resolves itself into ih, 
ik ego, being a guttural sound. From this the oblique 
cases are formed as ma me. The plural nominative is Ve 
prefixed to am. Asm an and amme, asme, umme, usme, 
are the epenthesis of sma. 

It is through numerals and pronouns and articles that 
identity of language is established — and Sanskrit is the 
cradle of human speech and the fountain of inflected diction. 
To this parent language especially may the pronouns be 
traced ; hence I have presumed to advert to it in this 
Tractate continually, since recent inquiries have opened it 
to etymologists, and all who take interest in philolo- 
gical pursuits, which is to language what synthesis and 
analysis is to chemistry. 

To Sanskrit then may be traced the resemblance or 
direct affinity between ng and m. Its accusative cases 
ending in ing or ng, like the Latin m or ung. Ex. : ves- 
pcrung for vesperum, as Fabius the Roman historian wrote 
B.C. 200, in his wars about Hannibal. 

This was emitted nasally, as the French do now, and 
used to write un, ung. 

Ego was originally engo, and from this proceeded the 
irregularity in its cases, as mei, mihi, me. This again 
leads to the first person of tenses ending in m, which m is 
equivalent to ngo, or ego, as the Chinese express it. 

The Latin is a refined Celtic, and the first person in 
Celtic is me. They said me, for aham, I am — derivable 



from asmi, esse — tfifii, or tart, in which we identify the 
Latin esum abbreviated into sum. 

Me am, ahani, which has a point over the line denoting 
nasality; the h is really redundant — agam is aham, and all 
identical with ego, lyuv, Iwvya. 

In English there was originally a nominative, as " Me 
clupeth it Ludgate." — Drayton. 

In Chinese, in a list which constitutes all the words in 
that original tongue, ego is recognised in Ngeou, ngo, ni. 
See Lewis le Conte's China, Lond. 1737. 

Formerly the French used g after n, as ung je servirai, 
and ung is the accusative case of Baan-arrow in Sanskrit, 
where the article oh or the is a suffix, as observed page 81. 

The Celto-Scythse comprised the whole of the north of 
Europe and Asia, styled Scythia in Asia and Celt in Europe. 
In the Celt tongue, the labio -nasal m is mutated to the 
aspirated labials v and/ in Welsh, and pronounced v ; some 
have the personal termination am, to av, af, as the word 
camav, I love, in the Gypsey tongue. The Greek w is a 
vocalised form of aw. Thus am, av, au, w. And here I 
will add the Latin future tense audiam to compare it with 
the Welsh, as I received it from Mr. W. R. Evans, one 
versed in etymology. 



Latin Audiam. 
future. 


audies. 


audiet. audi. 


eo. (eav. 


earn.) 


Welsh Credav. 


cred. 


av. I go. 


eo. 




future. Credi# 




1. 


is. 




Creda. 




a. 


it. 




Credwn. 


* 


awn. 


imus. 




Credwch. 




ewch. 


itis. 




Credant. 




ant. 


eunt. 





The Welsh credaf, I shall believe, and canaf I shall 
sing, seem merely the pronoun fi. I or me — a mutation 
of mi added to the root of the verb with a connecting 
vowel to form the first person singular of the future tense. 



89 

Tenses are an earlier development of language than 
traceable composition, as amabo — may be ama, €aw ; €cu'vw, 
€aa>, which is the Hebrew bo, to come and to go. 

The Sanskrit accusative case (pronouns) is mam, com- 
posed of m, enounced ma, and an enounced am. It 
has the force of the reduplicated me, ma, as ego, met, 
cyw, /x£, Se — and me too. 

The Sanskrit pronoun of the third person is T'am — Tu 
am, the 2nd person, composed of tu and am, in Latin tu 
and met ; with the organised sound m arises the pro- 
nominal me, and is the terminating syllable in p.i in Greek, 
and am in Latin. 

The Greek ajxa is the literal root m, as am-bire, am-plecti, 
afKpi, and in Saxon embe. Now am is the radix, and (pi 
is added, as in other Greek words, €<rj-0t. Am-te, is-te, 
tu-te. See page 37. 

Embe, ambe, ombe, yiju&e, from the roots m and b ; the 
word afi<pLTp^ uv * s equivalent in Saxon to ymb — sern — 
an. Am elfjn, is Saxon Hsem-ian, hiem, hem, ham, 
home, with be added, which has the same force as ge, as ge- 
haem, co-ire. 

Am is found in various ways and in various tongues. 
Am may be only ba inverted, as v, w, f, p, m, are only 
derivates of b, and they are convertible as vado, bado, 
vinum, winum, which is only otvov, and iin in Hebrew, 
the first jod by repetition pronounced as v or w. Ba me, 
is in Celtic, was I — and was may derive from the same 
fountain, and is probably as old as the confusion of 
tongues or even human speech. Ta me — Ta tu — Ta se — 
Sin, sib, sind — this is Gaelic or Celtic. I, thou, he, we, 
ye, they. 

The form ys, i3 the real etymon, and is the root in Sans- 
krit and other European languages. 

The verb substantive in many tongues is also the adverb 
of time or place, as I call=Calling my here. Prichard, Celtic 
Nations, p. 335. 



90 

The structure of inflections in the Celtic is similar to the 
ground work of conjugations in other languages, especially 
Sanskrit, but declensions do not, they are denoted by the 
prepositions, and their dative plurals are the type of the 
Latin abus and obus. 

The origin of language is hard to define through so many 
transmutations of age, country, caprice and law. We 
do derive however much from Gothic and Celtic, as well 
as from more modern dialects, and in some of our etymo- 
logists derivatives have been injudiciously ventured, so as 
to be considered by the prudent-overmuch to be sheer 
phrensy, yet are there unexpected derivations, as jour from 
dies. 

The word ma in Islandic means might, pa, am — ajia — 
afj.(()L — and m or mi mark the first person in Sanskrit verbs, 
as m in Persian, fit or v converted from jx in Greek and 
Latin. Again, am in Ethiopic means cum or with, a/xa. 
Where are we to seek the Ethiopic and Amharic alphabets, 
some account of which is found in Bruce's Travels with 
the alphabetical characters ? 

This tongue, apparently barbarous, seems as complex as 
Sanskrit, and like the Hebrew has two tenses, a perfect and 
a future. In it all verbs and all parts of speech were 
originally nouns as in Hebrew, which goes to establish the 
opinion in this tractate of only one part of speech. In 
fact, Being is the source of existence and language also, 
the ens or wv unity in every thing, number, substance, 
colour, and \6yog meaning speech and reason evince their 
close alliance. 

The Ethiopic is recognised as of Shemitic descent, and is 
a mere dialect of Hebrew — and even the term Chaldee has 
been applied to this tongue. 

The Geez is the oldest dialect of Arabic in existence, 
which is spoken in Arabia Fselix; the Amharic or Ethiopic is 
next in antiquity, and simpler than the Geez, and of much 
wider range geographically. 



91 

We say ego and tu, following the order and dignity of 
the person in speaking or writing — and in French vous et 
moi, lui et moi ; natural modesty not permitting oneself 
to stand first in the address. In epistolary correspon- 
dence the writer placed himself first, as we see in Cicero's 
letters. Cicero Attico, Cicero Csesari Imperatori salu- 
tem dat. Hence the Ego et Rex meus of Cardinal Wolsey. 

Me and the, now written thee, are equal to I and you or 
thou, being ancient nominatives. The in Gallic is no- 
minative, and in modern English we have no accusative. 
We have already observed how we used me for I, as in Me 
clupeth it Ludgate. — Drayton. And in Layamon's Brut 
d'angleterre we find, Me imatte a Sweuen — that is, I 
dreamed a dream. Asweved for aswevened, being in a 
dream. 

In the Doric dialect no distinction is made between the 
second person singular in the nominative and the accu- 
sative — I gave it thee or them. Thou is modern compared 
to the, spelt thee merely for distinction, both having the 
same radix, and in fact are one. 

Originally me, he, she, ye, were used obliquely, as To 
poor we the enmity is most capital — Let thee and I the 
battle try — The more shame for ye, holy men I thought 
ye — I knew ye, as well as he that made ye — Pass ye 
away, thou inhabitant of Saphir. 

He, she, his, her, were formerly used in English as in 
French, neither masculine nor feminine, but attributes of 
distinction. She is not always pronominal, but a noun, 
importing Lady — as Shakspere says, The Shees of Italy — 
The cruellest She alive. 

The Greeks had what they called uprightly accented pro- 
nouns, in distinction to enclitics, which inclined to or from 
the verb, as Give me content, where me is a perfect enclitic, 
a leaning or inclining pronoun. 

This people were adventurous — this people were under 
regal government — were denominated Pelasgi and Argivcs, 



92 

or Arkites, according to Jacob Bryant, for all foreigners 
coming into the land of Javan were Pelasgians. 

Plurality is not always employed, and this is because 
the number preceding the substance determines the plu- 
rality, as three milestone, handful, pound weight, stone 
weight, pound sterling, brace of partridges, foot deep, pair 
of gloves, couple of eggs, which usage is found in all our 
eminent authors. 

Shakspere uses this nineteen years. " I have not wept 
this forty years." We do not say accurately this present 
year^ the pronoun meaning present, or that past year. 
Generally this and that are singular, these and those plural. 

They who and them who are inadmissible, unless they 
and them have a reference to the antecedent term ; as They 
who were implicated ; those who humble themselves shall 
be exalted — They and them refer to an antecedent, and 
these and those to a subsequent term, as It was not they 
that should speak, but the Spirit of the Father. They, 
whom, them, are retrospective or respective, those, these and 
who are prospective. It is better to fall among crows than 
flatterers — those devour only the dead — these the living. 

This is the record of John, &c. who art thou ? art thou 
that prophet, and he answered No. This is the oriental 
style, and gives a more animated representation than the 
ordinary method of relating the substance of a conversa- 
tion in the third person, as old words judiciously applied 
give an air of grandeur to composition. 

Our ancestors said, Give me them books, This books ; 
adjectives undeclined, them and that, were plurals, as this 
means, &c. The vulgar, apparently wrong, use primitive 
diction, because their knowledge is oral and traditional. 
Them that humble themselves, &c. Them was formerly 
used for those before that was pluralised. They said, It is 
not me he is in love with — it is him; which is pure English, 
and not he, which is French idiom. Is that him in the 
crowd ? it is her, and not she. They say also there is many 



93 

persons when indefinite, but when positive or definite then 
we say, nous sommes vingt a table — g'a ete avec lui-meme 
que je vous ai vu. 

The plural of that is those. Those the antecedent of who 
or which always refers to a subsequent part of the sentence, 
as : Let those who poetry in poems claim, 

Read this, or only read to blame. 

All the unities of voice, case- and number should be 
preserved. 

Each other, these reciprocal pronouns have reference to 
two, as the two boys will hurt each other. One refers to 
more than two, as hurt one another — it notes reciprocity. 
Each means two taken separately, as I give each, that 
is both one and the other, a guinea. Other is applied 
when the substantive is expressed, as give me the other 
pens ; when the substantive is implied. These are prefer- 
able to others. 

Each party is to pay their own costs. Each is impro- 
perly used here for both. Both parties are to pay, &c. 
Their could not be introduced in the former sentence with 
grammatical propriety, the noun to which it refers being 
singular. 

Their was written hyr, as " The lutel foul hav hire wyl 
on hyre lud to synge" — That is, the little fowl have their 
will on their lay to sing. Lud is lied, in German, hence 
our lay. 

Both means two taken conjointly, as both shall go. — 
Both, all, such, are accompanied by the article ; as both 
the men, Such a man. The correspondent term of such 
is as. Such a house as that. 

Neither is applied to two and means not one, or the 
other. He shall have neither — it is always followed by 
nor, and sometimes preceded by not, as Love not the world, 
neither the things that are of the world. 

The distributive pronoun none is applied to more than 
two, as he shall have none of such things, and is like this, 



94 

undeclined, and not varied on account of number, because 
it notes proximity. 

That is ours is elliptic diction, for part of our property. 

Am, em, im, and him is a contraction of He-im. Them 
was written hem, and is a contraction of the-im, as whom is 
of who-im. But im is equivalent to man, and hence is said 
to come Homo, and not from humus, as the Latins thought. 

The pronoun in Sanskrit has the force of I and me. Imna 
in Gothic is him in English. 

When two terms connected by and are the nominative 
to the verb, they agree in case, as Scotland and thee, are 
each in the other. We are alone. Here is none but thee 
and I. Advert that in these citations it should be thou 
not thee. 

Sometimes in imitation of other languages, the pronoun 
in English is suppressed, as Forasmuch as it hath pleased 
Almighty God, and hath preserved you, &c. Where he is 
omitted, although the antecedent God, is in the oblique case. 

His is conjunctive and absolute. Her is conjunctive 
and receptive. Where is his book ? This is his. Have 
you seen her sister ? You is subjective and receptive, as 
You were wrong, I saw you. 

Her may be only a transposition of she. S and R 
being convertible; the symbol of the former meaning 
existence, and the latter meaning motion. 

Si in Gothic and seo in Teutonic are her ; and in Egyp- 
tian She means Woman. 

Me, thee, him, us, always depend on a verb or preposi- 
tion expressed or implied. Indeed the preposition expres- 
sed or implied is the only characteristic of government ; 
sometimes prefixed, sometimes affixed, nor is there need 
of any other. 

Latin pronouns ending in c, as istic, istuc, &c. are not 
declined. IS in Latin was made im in the accusative case, 
as Boni im miserantur. — Plautus. Suus, sis for seis ; sos 
put for suos, and sas for suas, in antique authors. 



95 



Who, Which, What, Relatives and Antecedents. 

We have observed that this and that were not varied, 
whence also the relative that, as well as the conjunction 
that may be explained ; for let the denomination be what 
it may it is only one and the same word. Were this 
not granted, it is assumed that grammarians would be at a 
loss to assign a reason for the use of that, when referred 
to a plural term. 

• That answering to quod is elegantly expressed by the 
Evangelist, "We speak that we do know, and testify that we 
have seen." " Again to consider advisedly of that is moved." 
— Bacon . Do always that is lawful and right. By the inser- 
tion of which after that } these beautiful sentences would lose 
their energy. 

Which is also elegantly suppressed after it ; and indeed 
the suppression of definitives of every sort afford grace 
and energy to composition, as that, who, which, &c. — for 
sometimes the insertion renders the sentence tautologous 
and should be omitted, provided the sense is not obscured 
by the omission, or ambiguity ensue. The contrary prac- 
tice, or redundance, enervates discourse, as a man who is 
addicted to intemperance ; which is better without the who. 
Note, the participle addicted is only applied in a bad sense; 
we do not say addicted to virtue with grammatical pro- 
priety. 

Whom do you say that I am ? I am the person whom 
you declare me to be, whom you mean. — This is an Atti- 
cism, and appears in Latin, " At nesciebam id dicere illam." 
— I did not know that meant her. 

As these and similar expressions develope the mysteries 
of human speech, the student would be little benefited 
were he told that they arc inconsistent with philosophical 
grammar. He should be rather taught that every mode 



96 

of expression adopted by the learned is consonant to 
utility, and that a true philosopher would never hazard 
his reputation so capriciously as to render himself the 
sport of pedantry. 

Who, which, the, are relatives when they describe exis- 
tence more particularly, as " I shall endeavour to promul- 
gate the decrees of custom who has so long possessed, 
whether by right or usurpation, the sovereignty of words." 
In every language which has in any degree been cultivated, 
there prevails a certain structure and analogy of parts which 
gives foundation to the most reputable usage of speech,^ 
and which in all cases when usage is loose and ambiguous 
possesses considerable authority. 

Beelzebub than who, 
Satan except, none higher sat. — Milton. 

Who and whom are applied to persons, which is applied 
to things, and that to both. 

His and whose were formerly applied to persons and 
things, and were not considered male and female. 

Which rule means as to which rule — and who, is as to 
which person. 

Daut, let that — though that — and that, used for instead 
of, in order to, if followed by may or might. Whomsoever 
you please to appoint, is to be resolved thus, Whom you so 
please ever to appoint. 
-* Whose, who, that, is the he, or genitive of whose, whom. 
What is the it, or that, having the double possessive 
whereof. Why is the accusative of whom, wherefore. W 
in Scotland is converted into f — as fa, who—fan, when — 
fat, what, fa, how or why. 

Dr. Johnson writes The fowl whom nature has taught to 
dip the wing in water, and Milton writes, Of that forbidden 
tree, whose mortal taste, &c. Addison writes, I desired 
they might go to the altar and (might) jointly return their 
thanks to whom they were due. And Swift, In the posture 



97 

I lay, for in which I lay. The article the of course in- 
volves who, for which it was anciently used. 

Such ellipses as these throw all the laws of Greek abs- 
traction into the shade, and yet Dr. Lowth, too much im- 
bued with a predilection for dead languages, censures them. 

Who, indefinite., is invariable, as Whoever the King 
favours, the Cardinal will find employment for. — Shahspere. 
" Whoe'er I woo myself would be his wife." 

When who is unaccompanied by an antecedent, it is not 
a relative, as nescio quis, I know not who. He laid the 
blame on somebody, I know not who of the company. 
Again, Who should I meet but the Doctor. — Spectator, 32. 
Here, and in many such phrases, Dr. Lowth says it ought 
to be whom, and did not seem to know that who is indefi- 
nite here and not relative. 

When you have a relative transpose the terms of the 
proposition, as Happy is the man who obeys his Creator ; 
and when the relative follows two substantives, the one 
respective, the other not, use the second form of possession. 

The relative should be preceded by a stop, whether sub- 
joined to a preposition or not — and the relative should not 
be omitted if preceded by that. 

Who is appropriated usually to the rational and which 
to the irrational creation. 

Who and which are elegantly omitted in the objective 
case, but they can not be suppressed in the nominative, as 
the man who was there. 

They arc either at your service, they are neither. Whether 
of the two is obsolete, it should be which of the two ; it 
may be applied to persons or things, and may be extended 
to any number. 

Thought and language act and react on each other ; 
sometimes a mist and indistinctness is unwarily thrown 
over style, and the meaning is often known only from tho 
context in all languages. 

H 



98 

The indefinite pronoun is not varied in the objective. 
Ex. : Make who you will judge. For who love I so much. 
Who is this for ? Who servest thou under ? We are still 
at a loss who civil power belongs to. Who do you speak 
to ? Again, who is for whom, in who have you seen ? and 
who is omitted after the, as the person who I saw, may be, 
the person I saw, because it is expressed in the, which as 
before remarked is the same as the relative, and the no- 
toriety of the fact obviates the necessity of quotation. 

In the antique version of St. John, it is written, " He it 
is that is to comynge after me which is maide before me 
of whom I am not worthi that I unbynde the thwong of 
his shoo.' 5 — John i. 27. 

Eorsoothe a stronger than I shal come aftir me whos I 
am not worth to unbynde the thwong of hese shoon. 

Ov ovk si/uii iKavoQ ra viroSrumaTa jSaorao-at. Cujus non 
sum idoneus calceamenta portare. — Matthew iii. 11. 

Whose and of whom coincide in these versicles, and con- 
fute argument on the subject of a genitive or possessive 
case, while the Greek and Latin texts are in unison with 
the English version. 

Osiris, whom the Greeks style Dionysius, and is the 
same with Bacchus, and who Mr. Bryant says is only 
Noah. 

Here who is elegantly suppressed in the second clause. 
The remonstrance he received and was dispersed, &c. 
Here which is omitted. These instances accord with 
classical authority, and the Latin and English coincide, 
which fact to know and remember facilitates the acquisi- 
tion of Latin, a language remarkable for its concinnity, in 
which it surpasses the Greek. 

How is used for what, as How pleasant illumination of 
mind. How useful directions of life. How sprightly in- 
centives to virtue does the perusal of history afford. 

Sometimes the relative has for antecedents the whole 



99 

reason that goes before, in which case it is put in the neuter 
gender and singular number, as In tempore veni, quod 
rerum omnium est primum ; though prima res might have 
been employed. 

When a nominative comes between the relative and the 
verb, the relative will be of the same case that the verb 
would require after it — as Felix, quern faciunt aliena 
pericula cautum. Quis was formerly written ques plurally, 
while quae and quo were put for all genders. So was mi — 
mi conjux — mi sidus. 

What has been considered a contraction of that which, 
but untruly. It corresponds to the Latin quod, and is 
applied to both genders and ungeneric terms. Ex. : What 
man, woman, tree, &c. What and that are perfectly 
identical ; consider advisedly of that is moved. We speak 
that we do know. So likewise the neuter it — a pronoun — 
when it is that men may be said to be conquered. For this 
submission is it (that which) implieth them all. — Hobbes. 

He, she, which, who, and their obliques have not long 
ceased to be applied to both existences. 

'Tis me, His she, c'est moi, statur a we when personal. 
We is used for I, which I savours of egotism, and you for 
the third person. Roges for roget aliquis. It is reported 
of Lord Erskine that he used the pronoun I so often and 
egotistically in his speech, that the printers could not report 
it for want of the /type. 

They say, for it is said, is a mode of diction highly 
appreciated and renders inflection of the verb unnecessary. 

Some peculiarities in the French and English languages, 
which once were the same, still remain as common to 
both. Ex.: It is me he is in love with. He is in love with 
me, that is it. It is those histories he speaks of— that is, 
is understood. 

When the expressions it is, was, &c. are used indefinitely 
it seems improper to affix the nominative pronouns ; the 

ii 2 



100 

construction is Celtic and corresponds to the Saxon me- 
thinks, methought (time was when well is him, her, them, 
was in vogue) says I — this is cursory language, and s was 
the termination of verbs singular and plural. " Methinks 
I your tears survey •" that is, thing or think is to me, that I 
your tears survey : these two words were the same formerly 
in pronunciation and orthography. To do is to collect 
things, hence to think is applied figuratively to the opera- 
tions of the mind only. 

Many tongues express the same idea personally. The 
French and English, after the Celtic, reverse the expression 
and affix the objective noun — c'est moi — it is me — and not 
c'estje — oril. This is a mode of expression unwarranted in 
every language, and is as barbarous as it would be in Latin 
to say, taedet ego, tu, ille. 

Dr. Lowth advocates this anomaly 3 but Dr. Priestley does 
not (p. 100), and is right. In fact our approved classics 
have adopted the just course, and this alone is sufficient 
authority, without an appeal to any grammarian. 

Though we now restrict I were, thou wert, &c. or were 
I, on some occasions to an hypothesis, it was not so 
anciently. It is a modern innovation, no more than 150 
years old, testibus Addison, Swift, &c. As I know thou 
wert not slow to hear.— Addison, All this thou wert. — 
Pope. Thou, Stella, wert no longer young. — Swift. 

For ever in this humble cell, 
Let thee and I, my fair one, dwell. 
That is, let us, who are I and thee. Again, which rule 
if it had been observed, &c. Here which and it are in 
apposition. 

Time was when none would cry that oaf was me, 
But now you strive about your pedigree. — Dry den. 

To dine with her and come at three, 

Impossible it can't be me.— Swift. 



101 

The instances of this construction are innumerable in 
the learned and modern tongues, by virtue of some term 
implied on which depends the oblique case. 

Coustruction is not limited to a particular language, its 
power is universal, in whatever language it is found writers 
are justified in the application. 

The French say, Si j'etois de vous — were I you, or in 
your place — Son grand benet de fils — this great booby of a 
son. 

That oaf was me, is, that oaf was that blockhead of me, 
and is for it can not be me. Here be is the infinitive 
mood. Be and do were formerly used as participles, so 
was go for gone — as up is she go. — Sir Th. More. 

In Milton — u But others to make such as I" 

In Dryden — " That it has chose two such as you and me. 39 

Here the first meant that we should understand am 
after I — but the second, on the contrary, made you and me 
coincide with two such, in the oblique case, which is per- 
fectly in accordance with classical construction. 

But as me slept — for I — 

I am that I am — we speak that we do know — whether 
it is easier to say thy sins, &c. — unto which he vouchsafed 
to bring. To insert which or may in these phrases would 
subvert their force, as the diction is perfect by their 
omission. 

I now come to the use of it — which represents time, 
and elsewhere expands itself into multitudinous variety, 
and is of singular application in English. 

Ldndley Murray, who seems to have perpetuated explo- 
ded errors, says our writers used the term means, as this 
and that means in an individual sense, and of it and it was, 
he remarks the terms are misused in, It is wonderful the 
very few accidents which in several years happen from 
this practice. 

This sentence is elliptical— i* is wonderful how few arc 



102 

the accidents which, &c. The is here applied in its ori- 
ginal sense for how or what. How few, what few, and the 
few being synonymous. The sentence should have been, 
" How few accidents arise from this practice," rather than 
happen. 

In the phrase it is 200 years since the building of Rome, 
the Latin and English dialects are coincident. In regard 
to time and space, as it is 1000 years since "Romulus* 
reign, the verb does not depend on the number but on the 
word it, which is elegantly used for time. In C( Gibraltar is 
4 leagues from Tangier," space is signified, and 4 leagues 
depends on a preposition expressed or implied, hence mille 
or 1000 is not the nominative case. 

Ab urbe condita, post urbem conditam, urbis conditae, 
anno urbis, are all equivalent expressions, and are used in- 
differently, and so of all similar expressions ; the form and 
signification may differ, but the sense remains the same. 
This is of importance, for it may be inferred, the form al- 
tered, that the sense is altered too. 

Dr. Lowth says that the pronoun it is sometimes omitted 
and understood, as we say, It appears, for as it appears, 
but this is erroneous. As is a word equivalent to that or 
which, and is resolved, which or that appears — we say 
which or that. Particles supply a place, as I value it not 
a farthing, here the ellipsis is that it means the worth of a 
farthing. 

As is sometimes used for if, as it were. Si me ames, as 
you love me. 

Si vivo, as I live — I love you as my own brother. Te in 
germani fratris dilexi loco — I will be to you a father, and 
you shall be to me a son — here as is omitted — Yes, and 
please God, immo si Deo placet — Simul and withal — as in 
German is used for that. 

In Hebrew, Arabic, and all the cognate dialects of 
"Western Asia, all that is ungeneric is placed under a femi- 



103 

nine inflection, hence the propriety of this version from 
the Hebrew : 

" He that pricketh the heart, maketh it to shew her 
knowledge." 

In Henry VI. Shakspere — this passage may serve to 
exemplify this peculiar demonstrative pronoun : 
Oft have I seen a timely parted ghost 
Of ashy semblance, meagre, pale, and bloodless. 
Being all descended to the labouring heart, 
Who in the conflict that it holds with death 
Attracts the same for aidance 'gainst the enemy. 

Here the word it is of no gender and means the named. 
It derives from hight, and was so formerly spelled. The 
word who also is here highly rhetorical, and is applicable 
to both existences, animate or inanimate. 

Where shall we sojourn till our coronation? 

Where it thinks best unto your royal self. — Ric. III. 

It is indisposed as is said of a child, when the sex is not 
mentioned — as the name of a horse is applied to a mare. 

Gender depends on custom, and can anything have gen- 
der unless by consent ? It is divided into male and female, 
" Which two great sexes animate the world." All genders 
given to inanimate substances are merely casual, and only 
appertain to words because they appertain to things. 

The pronoun his is used for its, which latter word does 
not occur once in either Testament. 

If the salt has lost his savour — the table and his furni- 
ture — the brazen altar and his gate of brass — look not on 
the wine when it givcth his colour — he that pricketh the 
heart maketh it to shew her knowledge. 

The neuter pronoun of the 3d person, says Dr. Lowth, 
had formerly no variation of case ; instead of the possessive 
its they used his, and he might have added her also, which 
is now appropriated to the masculine — Learning has his in- 
fancy, when it is but beginning and amost childish — then 



104 

Ms youth, when it is solid and reduced — and lastly his old 
age, when it waxeth dry and exhaust. — Bacon, Essay 58. 
Advert that, the d in participles preterit is sometimes 
dropped, as in excommunicate, elevate, and in these ex- 
amples. 

To destruction sacred and devote. — Milton. 

The alien compost is exhaust. — Philips, Cyder, 

"Were incorporate with each other. — Milton, Eiconoclast, 

17. 

With the gold and silver he had dedicate of all nations 
which he subdued. — 2 Sam. viii. 11. 

According to the grammaire raisonnee of Arnaud, Les 
genres ont ete inventes pour les terminaisons, but the 
Port Royal grammarians find a different origin, and say 
that the word arbor a tree is feminine, " parceque comme 
une bonne mere elle porte du fruit " — miratur non sua 
poma. This remark is utter nonsense. For in all lan- 
guages all things and existences are of different genders. 
In Greek and German, females are neuter, as Das Weib, a 
woman, and to Kopaaiov, a girl, in Greek. Mr. Harris has 
adopted this ineptie, and says the sun must be masculine 
and the moon feminine, the contradiction being complete 
in Greek, German, Arabic, &c. whether in sexes or inani- 
mate objects. The sun is made feminine in P. Ploughman, 
like the common mother earth, which teems and feeds all. 
The sun lacked her light in her selfe 
When she him suffer that sunne and sea made. 

As, Whose seed was in itself after his kind, &c. where 
his and her refer to inanimate objects, for how can sub- 
stance or words have gender in them ? 

They came unto the iron gate which opened of his own 
accord. Love worketh no ill to his neighbours. 

It and was can not be applied to the plural number. 
It, when receptive, or having the quality of receiving what 
is communicated, precedes the other receptive pronouns, 



105 

but the noun is placed after the pronouns — Give it me — 
Give him the book. 

The receptive pronouns, whom and which, are elegantly 
omitted in — the man I saw, the horse I sold. 

Conjunctions, Particles, &c. Indeclinables. 

Prepositions and conjunctions are Verbs, says H. 
Tooke, hence they may be accompanied with any form of 
substantive, as Between you and I or me. Here is none 
hut me. Let thee and me, or I, my fair one, dwell. 
Conjunctions do not require the same cases or the same 
tenses before and after them ; connectives are sometimes 
conjunctions, sometimes prepositions. 

Adjectives and conjunctives frequently attract to the 
subject, prepositions never — conjunctions do not connect 
like cases and tenses, they depend on the different views 
of the mind, as They be persuaded that John was a prophet- 

"When that is used as a casual conjunction, and not as a 
relative, it is always preceded by a comma; and the relative 
should be preceded by a stop, whether subjoined to a 
preposition or not, page 97- 

A an and one, shew that the existence is to be taken 
in its whole extension — a is always a conjunction, as I 
have a house — an urn, &c. Have you one ? One is ab- 
solute. These words convey similar ideas, however meta- 
physical grammarians may diversify identity. Sir John 
Mandeville writes, " Schcwethe in o contree, and schewe- 
tlic not in another contree. " 

As is conjunctive and absolute, as a, an, no, my, thy, &c. 
I have a house, have you one. You have no hat, has he 
none ? That is my purse. He is wholly thine. He is 
no longer ours. Your's is lost, &c. 

The conjunction and has many meanings unknown to 
superficial inquirers. It means continuation, and is found 
in end, endo, the termination of participles present. 



106 

Atque in Virgil, Georg. I. v. 202, is immediately, and in 
this verse of Ennius : 

" Atque, atque ad muros properat Eomana juventus." 

if is often improperly used instead of whether, which 
latter is a conjunction dubitative, while if is always con- 
ditional. I go, if you can or not. 

It is said we want a conjunction adapted to familiar 
style equivalent to notwithstanding. "We have although, 
which has the import of notwithstanding, and is the proper 
conjunction, a term answering to non obstante or notwith- 
standing. 

Neither and nor are often repeated for energy ; nor love, 
nor hate ; neither in this world, neither in the world to 
come — but sometimes neither is elegantly omitted, as 
" Simois nor Xanthus shall be wanting there." When a 
noun or a pronoun are connected by or or nor, and are the 
subjects, the verb agrees with the nearer, as He or I am to 
go — am to do that. That is ours, is elliptical. In German, 
when the antecedent is the first or second person, the verb 
following the relative may be in the third person, as I who is, 
thou who is. This construction has been used in English. 

Each, each other, either, neither, are applied to two ex- 
istences. They are distributives. Either is often omitted 
with elegance, and is derived from weder in German. 
They crucified two others with him, on either side one — 
but neither always followed by nor, must be invariably in- 
serted, as neither A nor B ; whether is when, either, each, 
ent weder, jeder. 

Or is often omitted, as, it is practised in town or country. 

" That nature, nor the engagement of words are not so 
forcible as custom/' Here is an obvious contradiction of 
the disjunctive conjunction having a contrary effect to the 
conjunction copulative, as, The King nor the Queen were 
not at all deceived; which shews that it is not true that 
the disjunctive has always an effect contrary to the copula- 
tive. See page 13, Canon 34. 



107 

Pastors are obliged to watch over their flocks, neither 
can they forsake it without a crime. Page 101. 

Is there ever a ship ready to sail ? Is there never a man 
to be found ? Never so great, in Latin, ut ut maximus. 
He came never the sooner for that. 

Ever is used for any, never for none — Though never so 
infamous and shameful, there should be worse behind. 
Hear the voice of the charmer, charm he never so wisely. 
This is pure English, and means charm he so wisely as 
never was before. Let our thoughts be never so strongly 
attached to any particular place. Of this diction there are 
boundless instances, but Dr. Lowth condemns it. 

These forms of expression afford a pleasing variety, and 
throw a light on their use in other languages, which is an 
acquisition to the student in all literary pursuits. 

However is used with adjectives, whatever with substan- 
tives, as however great his riches — whatever riches he may 
possess — let his wealth be ever so great. 

There is none other but the house of God — which is put 
for that and yet conjoins the two parts of the proposition, 
and is more energetic than this is the house of God. 
Again, It imports no more, but — to trust in Christ is no more 
but — to acknowledge, &c. It could not be cured but by 
amputation. The moon was no sooner up but he opened 
the gates — but is praiter in Latin. 

The suppression of definitives and insignificant particles 
contributes greatly to the strength of composition, as I 
must, however, be just to own, which is preferable to " so 
just as to own," and so may frequently be omitted without 
loss of sense. Without the figure ellipsis language would 
lose its energy, and become languid and inadequate to 
taste and judgment. The beautiful variety displayed in 
English composition exceeds that of any other language. 

There are adverbs of time as often ; of place as here; of 
manner and quality, as happily ; adverbs modify verbs and 
sometimes adjectives, implying intension and remission. 



108 

At nondum etiam ? What not yet neither ? Ni moi non 
plus, nor I neither. Ne quaquam, by no means — not at all. 

Adverbs are sometimes inflected in Latin, Greek, and 
English, as here, hither, hence, whence, where, whither — 
soon, sooner — well, better, best, there, thither, 8fc. 

Sei sit nox — (12 tables)— is si sit nox, it is not put for 
noctu. We can say sei sit nox or noctu existente — quam or 
quod vales gaudeo, since or so long as you are well, I rejoice. 
Si vales, ego autem valeo, is a Ciceronian compliment. 

Quod, at, quum, are relative and depend on the preposi- 
tion ad, ubicumque reperiantur. Occasionally in Latin, 
loquitur rarissimus for rarissime is used. Tacet multus for 
multo, and here is an analogy between English and Latin, a 
refined Celtic, which language or dialect prevailed in Europe 
before the Greek and Roman invasions, and divers immi- 
grations carried their tongue into foreign countries, and 
supplanted or altered the apparently aboriginal languages. 

The doctrine that Khetia was Tuscan and Etruria was 
Rhetia is affirmed to be sound ; if so they were Kelts and 
consanguineous with the Gauls or a Celtic colony. 

It is impossible not to be struck with the number of 
Latin roots that are contained in the pure dialect of the 
Celtic, as shewn by Leo in the Mahlberg glosses, where 
hundred of words between the languages are identical (see 
page 5). This primeval tongue exhibits a specimen of 
Milesian, of which the Latin tongues spoken in the 
Valteline are modulated forms, while its state of utmost 
refinement is exhibited in the Latin. 

Ad nihil, ad multum, ad plus, ad magis, nimis, nimium, 
satis are according to rule, but custom is more prevalent 
and elegant. Nimium legis nee tamen totum — you read 
too much, yet not all. Some, says Swift, learn so quickly, 
that they learn nothing. He means but the inexorable 
logic of facts. 

Negatives express no abstract idea of nonentity, because 
no such power of abstraction extends to the mind of man. 



109 

The French tongue has no double negatives. Ne is the 
converse of en or in, as in-nocent ; and em and im is the 
same in un- import ant. So ig, il, in ignorant and illegitimate. 
One word can not be the negative of another, because the 
want of energy would divest it of its verbal nature ; the 
abstractive article therefore can represent no more than 
contrariety or opposition. 

Non habeo quid tibi dem, I have not the wherewithal 
to give, — in which all verbs, unphilosophically termed 
auxiliaries, are included. 

Quin is qui-ne. " Curiosus nemo est quin sit malevolus," 
only an evil disposed man is malevolent. Two negatives 
are equivalent to an affirmative, say some ; if so they are 
superfluous, but they are not so, for they make the expres- 
sion emphatic and decisive. In French this construction 
is perpetually used, but pas and point are not negatives. 
Two negatives enforce as : — 

Nor did they fierce pains not feel. — Milton, 

Nor let no comforter approach mine ear. — Shakspere. 

Nor is danger apprehended, no more than we commonly 
apprehend danger from thunder or earthquakes. Neither 
is a question made by the adverb how, added to the adverb 
often. It is an exclamation, and no mark of interrogation 
is admissible where no answer is expressed or implied. 

No wonder. No doubt. Happy who ere long if so, if 
not. All these are instances of ellipses, and apposite too : 
as, it is stuff, that is but stuff; hence many obvious words 
are elegantly omitted, I can no more ; shall, must, no more. 

No is used instead of not, as, you must whether or no. 

The Italians like the French use a negation for an affirma- 
tive enforcement, as, 
Estimo chc la statuaria sia di piu dignita che non e la pittura. 

I n'ame (ne am) but a lewd compilatour, &c, and with 
this swerde shal I sley ne envy. — Chaucer. An adverb is a 
word added to a word, and so contains more than one word, 
in which sense it may be considered a circumstantial ex- 



110 

pression, and may be analysed. Now the word notwith- 
standing is neither a preposition nor a conjunction. But 
all words were originally the same. 

Particles are small portions of words used variously. 
Can participle and particle be the same, as in this con- 
struction the word murdering is evidently a particle of an 
active verb ? says Dr. Priestley. 

Prepositions are particles, and admit oblique cases after 
them. To, the sign of the infinitive mood, is a particle. 

Displeased with redundancy of particles in Greek, Dr. 
Lowth remarks, that the Latins extended their displeasure 
to the article, which they totally banished. But this is not 
true. Was it not to tear away the cloth with the lace, as 
Swift represents in the Tale of the Tub ? 

Now the Romans did not banish the article, but finding 
it separated from the noun they transposed it (as I have 
already observed, Canon 5), so in Chinese, Persian, and 
Sanskrit, page 81 ; and instead of tearing away the cloth 
with the lace, they cemented or made a consutile texture, 
and thus attained the proudest boast of literary composition. 
For the prefix in natural language becomes the affix in arti- 
ficial language, as the us in Dominus, and og in \6yog are 
the articles at the end, and hence are perfectly synonymous. 
This, in the analysis of tongues, is a gain to know, and 
facilitates the knowledge of language and logic, for Dr. 
Blair remarks, the structure of language is extremely arti- 
ficial, and there are few sciences in which a deeper or more 
refined logic is employed than in grammar. 

Indeclinable parts of speech are properly particles, and 
seem to be the offscourings of language, like the Parias 
among the Indians, to fill up vacuums, and interstitial 
spaces, and do low work, serving to link signification and 
no-signification. 

Interjections coincide with no part of speech, but are 
adventitious, mere impulses of nature and not of art. 

Locke complains that more than enough has been ad- 



Ill 

vanced on other parts of speech, but that particles have 
not had justice done them, and H. Tooke admits they are 
fragments of substantives, while Dr. Johnson assigns the 
properties of three different parts of speech to the vocable 
enough, viz. substantive, adjective, and adverb, and exempli- 
fies it in seven different ways. 

In the words instanced by Welsford under particles, viz. 
enough, among, how, like, not one but has its own obvious 
and current meaning and no other, as on analysis is evident. 
Whiles is the genitive case like certes, of a certainty ; of a 
while, and it means a turn, and time metaphorically. 

All particles are significant somehow, as are all proper 
names of persons and places, implying some attribute 
comprised in them, as Albert, all-bright ; London is Llan 
Dian ; temple of Diana, as I have read. Wherever the 
evident meaning and origin of the particles of a language 
are to be found, there is the certain origin of the whole. 
Adverbs exist no more without verbs, than a verb without 
a substantive, which proves there can be but one part of 
speech, and the verb is no part of speech, while esse is the 
verbal noun, or the only substantive philosophically con- 
sidered. Canon 28. 

The Latins used for exclamations the words en and ecce, 
usually followed by an accusative case as in Greek l$e,l§bv; 
but which are really imperatives of the second aorist of 
aSw, to see and know. They said, O miserum, which is 
elliptic for fateor ; or Me miserum, vides understood — 
and like Hei and Vae, are indications of mental emotions, 
and are plaintive particles. Imperative is only elliptical, 
as Go thou, that is, I command you to go. 

Indeclinable parts of speech are properly particles, and 
the almost imperceptible nicety with which they were used 
in the structure and connection of the sentences renders it 
frequently impossible to decide whether they might or 
might not be introduced. 

Hermes says the Greeks filled their works with, particles 



112 

and conjunctions ; the moderns do not so, and he asks, Is 
it where there is meaning there must be words to connect ? 

The reason why the Greeks used particles was for 
euphony, surcharging their clauses with particles and ex- 
pletivesj which signify next to nothing ; but the English 
have a more finished tongue, and prefer real energy to any 
such capricious jingling. Composition depends on concep- 
tion and feeling, and what we conceive strongly and clearly 
we must express in an appreciable and corresponding way, 
for language is the dress of thought— 

Verbaque, promisam rem, non invita sequent ur. 

In the sentence, " sub eas literas statim recitatse sunt 
tuse." — Cicero. Immediately after those letters, yours 
were read. This corroborates the idea 5 that when the verb 
is not repeated, a term may have a different construction — 
as You will go before me — he is to come after me. In these 
phrases, you will go, means before I go — and after I come. 

No one would hesitate to prefer the former to the latter 
mode of expression. The connection between the conjunc- 
tion and. preposition is too nearly allied to doubt its propriety. 

At often answers to the Latin ex — as ex animo illam 
amavit — He loved her at heart. Ex intervallo — at some 
distance. Ex insperato — at unawares. 

In Hebrew there is no affirmative answering to yes — it 
is supplied by periphrasis — and the Latins said for yes, 
ita, etiam, maxime — which are elliptical circumlocutions. 

When verbs are used indefinitely they are followed by 
a case depending on a preposition. In fact a preposition 
is the only governing power in language, to whose con- 
sideration I proceed. 

On Prepositions. 

All regimen depends on the preposition, or all relation 
of words to one another depends on prepositions expressed 
or suppressed. If the former, it is regular construction, 



113 

if the latter, it is irregular, figurative or elliptical construc- 
tion. Nevertheless there are anomalies in the application 
of this part of speech, for incoherency is common to all 
languages and people. 

All prepositions have the same import or are implied as 
connective particles, having lost their primitive destination, 
hence a particle is the sign of a relative idea made absolute 
by its application — as " a me virgo est," she is a virgin 
for me. 

Dr. Hill, in his Latin synonymes called f ' The Philosophy 
of Prepositions," had tried to establish many of his deduc- 
tions on the principles of quiescence and motion, and he 
has failed exactly as Mr. Harris has done in his Hermes, 
by giving a preposition the meaning of some other word in 
the sentence cited for illustration. 

Now the preposition is the only symbol of government, 
and it is frequently and elegantly omitted. Substantives, 
adjectives, verbs, adverbs, conjunctions, and interjections 
never govern ; government should be discerned by the 
mind, and should be so perspicuous and easy as to be level 
to any understanding. The motives to action are twofold, 
final and efficient. 

The preposition is a noun not placed before of necessity, 
because it is often the converse in English. — " They have 
of late," says Lord Shaftesbury, " His true reformed in some 
measure the gouty joints and work of thereunto, whereby, 
thereof, therewith, and the rest of this kind, by which com- 
plicated periods are so curiously strung or hooked on to 
one another after the longspun manner of the bar or pulpit." 

But in these words we see nothing more than a transpo- 
sition, the preposition being affixed according to the genius 
of some inflected languages, as in Aoyoc, Dominus, &c. 
where the article is a suffix, as observed, page 7, by 
which contrivance two or more words become one or united, 
which mav serve as a clue to the student, to unravel the 



114 

mysteries of artificial speech, wanting the knowledge of 
which he is left to grope his way in the dark without 
attaining the object of his toil in the pursuit of grammatical 
science. Many and extensive readers too have but a faint 
conception of the nature and excellence of artificial speech, 
comprising energy of expression, vivacity, in fine every 
thing valuable in rhetorical and poetical composition. 

Prepositions also form a great part of the prefixes of the 
English language — as fro-ward, to-ward, in-come, down- 
wards, off-spring, by-word, be-cause, be-ware, of-fer, for-bid, 
out-let, over-land, with-draw. 

Most prepositions may be used one for the other, and are 
nearly synonymous, as the efficient cause is expressed by 
of, by, from, through, with — as he died of hunger may be 
predicated also of all these particles. And in the words 
before, behind, below, above, the essence is virtually con- 
tained in the preposition. 

Sometimes a preposition is omitted, as in the old work 
styled "Prikke of Conscience" — Allemaner [of] friendship 
that may be — and again, Alle manere [of] grace ; and after 
verbs, as it is more graceful to say approve anything, than 
approve of any thing — this diction is as old as Queen 
Elizabeth. 

The efficient cause is expressed by the genitive case in 
Greek and by the ablative in Latin, and by either in 
English — the final cause is expressed by the dative in 
Greek, and by the accusative in Latin, and in English by 
the preposition to, expressed or implied, as God's grace, 
give it to John, give it him, go to John. So in Latin, the 
efficient cause or motive, the final cause or end, are ex- 
pressed by words of motion equivalent to the prepositions 
from and to in English — in old diction we said, that master 
of him, that wretch of you, and master mine, as we now say 
my Lord. The French say, mon Prince, for your Highness. 

For directs to the final cause or motive, as to work for 
—inconvenient for, condemned, hated, substitute, plead 



115 

for — To be for, hired for, Sec. This word by implication is 
against, as for-give, for-sake, bear, swear, close. H. Tooke 
has not adverted to this preposition in these senses. 

By is the proper term when a material or an immaterial 
existence is to be personified, or when the cause of an 
effect is to be expressed — Ex. : He was killed by lightning, 
which is more intelligible and correct than he was killed 
with lightning. 

When rules are various and inadequate, no wonder that 
custom and grammar are discrepant. It is a Saxon struc- 
ture to end a sentence with a preposition, but it does not 
sound so classical, because it separates the preposition and 
its object too far, as whom do you speak of? Change the verb 
if such an union of prepositions is threatened. By a parity 
of propriety we should avoid a concurrence of prepositions 
in varying the phrase — Ex. : This house is to be disposed 
of by private contract — where we might substitute, This is 
to be sold by private coDtract ; and in common parlance, 
the money he did him out of; of which he defrauded him. 
Of the prepositions from, before, whence, thence, through : 
whence means from what place ; thence from that place ; 
and so from may be omitted as redundant, and one word 
only employed, as whence, thence. 

The application of some prepositions is disused, though 
we can say with equal propriety, averse to, and averse/rom 
— and accused for, betraying of, &c. " The mind, which 
has feasted on the luxurious wonders of fiction, has no taste 
of the insipidity of truth." 

We pronounce the name of Cato, but we think on 
Addison. 

The doctor's cap depends from the nail, the cage depends 
from the roof, is metaphorical diction. We say depend 
on, independent of 

Dr. Warburton has a name sufficient to confer celebrity 
to those who could exalt themselves into his antagonists. 

i 2 



116 

H. Tooke says he had no knowledge or skill to account 
for the words in, out, on, of, to ; and declares they were 
lost in profound antiquity. For the prepositions of and to 
we may refer to the Chapters on these interesting particles, 
perhaps the most cardinal words in our language. 

Of, for, before, ere, are all one word. The tone and the 
sense are often synonymous, hence the tone between com- 
pounds, for the tone alone can convey the sense ; and thus 
all words, like the physical elements and numbers, are 
reduced to unity. 

Or it was day, ere it was day, before day began, Sec. from 
the morning. He expownede witnessyng the kyngdom of 
God fro the morowe till to eventyde. — Dedis. Acts xxviii. 
23. 

Prepositions indicate the point or tendency of the action, 
as throw up, come down; and words of the same origin 
require the same prepositions after them, on, open, not 
concealed. 

Id, at, to, are kindred words ; and in composition ad is 
convertible into ac, af, al, an, ap, or, as, at, and termina- 
tions in ack, ick, eke, denote action or energy. 

" Sine veste Dianam agrees better with Li via, who had 
the fame of chastity, than with either of the Livias who 
were both noted of incontinence." 

The Latins converted en into in ; seeing the affinity 
between i and e, it may be ascribed to this or the figure 
metonomy rather than an abuse of the words. But in 
Greek, French, and Saxon, it remains in its integrity, as, 
en ami, enclos, lv lfio\, iv viy. 

En in final syllables, as oxen, brazen, &c. is not the Se- 
mitic genitive case, as is averred in Welsford's Mithridates. 
It is the preposition en corrupted by the Latins into in, 
and preserved by French and Greeks. Endo, written into, 
which is agreeable to its primitive application, is used for 
absolute rest and motion completed. The French use en, 



117 

as, etre en France ; aller en. It also forms the accusative 
case in em, used for rest and motion. See pp. 55, 57- 

At and out are synonymous, and were used so by our 
Saxon ancestors indiscriminately a, an, o, on. Ex.: 
One o' clock, now a days, nunc dierum. 

To strain at or out, against a gnat. Oust, out, agere in 
exilium — to out-law. 

To, into, endo unto, indo, undo, certus eundi, resolved 
of going, or to go, which is now other than do go. See Do 
and To Chapters. 

The word Form, assumes various shapes in fra, frame, 
fro, from, form by metathesis, and is the same perhaps in 
fra Arabic, Phra Egyptian ; Pharaoh, for Phre means sun, 
hence metaphorically the head of a family. The scarabseus 
in Egypt is denominated <{>opu, or phre the sun, of which 
it is a vocalised expansion, for the circle of the holy Scara- 
baeus symbolically indicates the apparent course of that 
luminary in the heavens. 

From and of are synonymous, as Fra sche (of she or her) 
thir word had sayd, Gavin Douglas En. x. With means 
to bind — withen ; and in its purport implies concomitancy, 
as he shot himself with a pistol, struggle with, dally with, 
partake with. Come speedily, or with speed, strive eagerly 
or with eagerness. Have interest in, with, and from, as 
with hunger, from hunger, &c. all prepositions have the 
same import or are implied as connective particles, though 
of is the general and to the particular preposition. See p. 74. 

In German, with, is wider against, as with-hold, stand, 
draw, &c. and our against may be an abbreviation of gain- 
said, gegen, sagt. 

When and with arc also synonymous if applied to 
actions, as two actions arc simultaneous, the one happens 
when the other does ; so with each other, as I arrived when 
you were writing. 

The word until, though an adverb has the attributes of a 
preposition and means unto. — Till means the whole extent. 



118 

Down till hell — ascended till heaven, and Mr. Tooke says 
till means time, and should be opposed to from, and that 
it is composed of to and while, which also means time. 

Stay while evening. But it is really applied to time, 
place, person, thing. Till her honour. Forgive us our 
debts as we forgive till our debtors. It means towards 
also, as Hastened them until, towards them. 

This word means also toil, for till the ground is only 
toil it. Manufacturers talk of tilled fabrics, as silk, cloth, 
&c. which is perhaps telum, and twilled may be a derivative. 

The import of the preposition for is omitted occasionally 
in old diction as (for) What does me Esop, but away to the 
market. — Shakspere says, 

The skilful shepherd peeled (for) me certain wands. 

Sometimes, as in German, prepositions are remitted to 
the end of sentences, as what did you that for ? See p. 115. 

Milton says : Thou my shade, 

Inseparable, must with me along. 

Sometimes a cluster of prepositions meet, but not ele- 
gantly, as Looking in from under the gallery. 

Spenser and old writers used two prepositions together 
more Grsecorum, as from to die; for to come, &c. The 
word for is said to be a conjunction, combining preposi- 
tive qualities. Ex.: In whose hand is wickedness, and 
(for) their right hand is full of gifts. 

In Latin too, Audieras et fama fuit. " For there was a 
common bruit," noting power and possibility. 

In Gower's Confessio Amantis, B. v. We have for used 
with the preposition to, equivalent to do. Page 62. 
They take their leave and forth they fare, — 
And in all hast made hir yare 
Towards hir sister for to fare. 

Let me advert here to this singular vocable fare, the 
parent of many words in English and German. 

Leave thy nice fare, or simple behaviour. The fare of me, 
How I do. Made fare, or much ado. Fsera, is Gothic, hence 



119 

ferry. How fare you ? take a fare. Fiord, ford, fort, forth 
— as Frankfort — all which mean but fahr en to go in the Ger- 
man tongue, to which stock the English owes its substratum. 
We derive our tongue, our spirit and constitution from 
the Saxons, who are perhaps the most singular race in the 
world, and indeed without hyperbole may be styled the 
hands and eyes of mankind, Our Saxon patience, endur- 
ance, skill, industiy, give us a supreme eye to facts ; a 
logic that brings salt to soup, hammer to nails, oar to 
boats, and such like appurtenances, says Emerson in his 
English traits — in fact, we may add, a logic superinduced 
on all things indispensable to man's general and particular 
felicity. 

On Nouns. 

A noun is a mere name, and is that which names, defines 
or qualifies the thing — all nouns are substantives, and all 
verbs attributives. 

Adam gave names to all things according to their nature, 
and names once established descended to future genera- 
tions consonant to the various customs of the human race. 
For although languages differ, yet they are composed of 
the same elements differently modified, like the natural 
elements of creation, all proceeding from one species of 
matter probably — as gas or something more attenuated, 
for there is one God, one law, one element. Like numbers 
matter may be reduced to unity, so words or names are 
mere instruments of conventionality, and mutual com- 
munication, admirably adapted to every emergence and 
every clime, for nothing is so ductile, pliant and obsequious 
as language. 

Thought and spirit were given from above, so was speech, 
though Plato averred that language originated in deep 
meditation and reflection. It arose, however, in simplicity, 
and was complicated by thought. Orators and gram- 
marians have composed all these multitudinous inflections 



120 

found in grammars for the sake of sound and variety, which 
have oftener obscured than illustrated. 

Speech, originally all plainness, is yet almost entirely 
composed of figure and metaphor. Abstract thoughts are 
the shadows of reality, and in time suggestion became 
opinion, and opinions- were held for facts. " Opinion is an 
omnipotence, whose veil mantles the earth with darkness/' 
until submitted to the mental crucible which tries their 
worth, like 

" The fond shekels of the tested gold, 
Or stones, whose rates are either rich or poor, 
As fancy values them/' — Measure for Measure. 

The gender, number, article, and preposition are in- 
volved in the noun, and the union of the noun with the 
relative and its variations expresses every vocal and nomi- 
nal accident, and renders particles and conjunctive pre- 
positions superfluous. 

The prefix in natural language becomes the affix in 
artificial, as we have explained in the canons of this 
Tractate, page J. 

If the primary language of mankind was monosyllabic, 
all words of more than one syllable are rather like sentences 
than words. There is not a single root lost bat must be 
concealed in some tongue or dialect. The three modes of 
verbal alteration are prefix, infix, and suffix. Now be is 
a common prefix used before words at pleasure and some- 
times put into the middle of words. Ge is the same as be. 
It implies repetition, as ge-birge, ge-rassel, rustle, ge- 
rumple, crumple. In the figure Epenthesis is found the 
word, eke, augere, increase, which is in eak, ac. Ce is the 
same and found in ce-lutch, clutch. These reduplications 
are common also in both the learned tongues. 

Words were constantly used with a prefix of a or b — as 
a-bide, a-do, bc-take, &c, but the moderns reject both 
generally, though particular cases remain. A and the, pre- 



121 

positive terms, correspondent in English to a, and de in 
Latin correspondent to of. Some Continental tongues, as 
Spanish, Portuguese, and Italian, when they abandoned 
Latin declensions took the Latin ablative for a nominative 
case, and the English took the sign of the ablative. Lan- 
guage was not created but given, and as necessities arose 
new terms were employed, till after the confusion (for 
prior to that marvellous event, all the world was of one 
speech and language, not even a dialect) when dialects arose, 
and were so diversified by time and distance as to be scarce 
recognisable by the most astute etymological or ethnological 
indagator. There never was any origin of words beyond 
this source, although etymologies are found and deriva- 
tions assigned to a primitive diction which never existed. 
At the confusion of tongues every body could express his 
ideas on ordinary matters as clearly as if no such confusion 
had eventuated. From what philologists say, it would be 
supposed that mankind lisped like babes, and could not 
express their wants. 

The original language once altered, it declined so 
materially in the lapse of ages, and by neglect, that each 
tongue seemed an original, and etymologists have made 
confusion more confounded by deducing language from a 
few mean words and narrow ideas. 

It would be hard to assign the order or precedence in 
difficulties, but the Greek is complex, the Basque worse, 
then comes Sanskrit the complex tongue of the simple 
Prakrit, and lastly Chinese, whose complicity is almost 
invincible even to such men as Pascal and Scaliger, who 
never forgot what they saw, heard, or read. Yet this land 
of boasted antiquity must be still in its grammatical in- 
fancy, for it has not yet even formed an alphabet. 

A Dictionary, however, says Morrison, was compiled by 
Pa-out-shc, B.C. 1100, containing 40,000 words, a sort of 
hieroglyphic, more resembling the signs of the Zodiac. 



122 

The present book in use is styled the Imperial Diction- 
ary, one Kanghi arranging the language under 214 radi- 
cals, elementary keys, or formatives. 

Each order of keys containing more strokes up to 17, 
each again containing 206 characters which must be learned 
memoriter, and also how to write them, and " then in the 
endless labour die." This tongue has its esoteric and 
exoteric doctrines and uses for the scholar and the peasant; 
it is only more difficult from its rudeness, says Dr. John- 
son, as there is more labour in hewing down a tree with a 
stone than with an axe. 

But to revert to the noun, which is the only part of 
speech, comprising essentially the verbs substantive, so 
that Esse is styled the verb substantive, and we find the 
same in French and Latin where etre is the Being, and 
posse comitates, the power of the country, the infinitive 
used for the noun, of which more is said (page 12). A 
noun is the fulcrum of a sentence, and is inadequate if it 
requires an adjective to explain it, while an adjective added 
to an adjective increases or decreases its significance, as, 
A very perfect gentle knight. — Chaucer. 

A participle or gerund peforms the office of a noun, as 
By the sending of the light of the Holy Ghost. 

Nouns of multitude admit either singular or plural 
number, as army, party, flock, mob, &c, being collective, 
so one, which under a singular termination, conveys a plural 
idea. 

Substantives taken in the largest and most unlimited 
sense do not admit the article before them, as adjectives 
can not so gracefully form adverbs in ly ; holily, masterly. 
It were better to use synonymous expression. Ex.: in a 
holy manner. Substantives may become adjectives and are 
used as such, as Populum late regem, for regnantem. 

To convert a general quality into a particular attribute 
is the office of the adjective. Substantives as distinguished 



123 

from adjectives are names of qualities, abstracted from the 
consideration of their existence in any particular subject. 

In the order of reasoning we begin with generals and 
descend to particulars, contrary to the received notion of 
the progress of the intellect which is supposed to rise from 
particulars to generals. 

Do not all the objects in nature offer themselves first to 
our view in the aggregate ? When a rainbow appears we 
see it in its entirety and pass to the examination of its 
colours. This is applicable to all complex ideas resolvable 
into sentiments, such as love, hate, fear, hope, &c. 

The term Noun adjective is more philosophical than Dr. 
Lowth will admit, for they are not the names of things he 
remarks. It owes its application, however, to the juxta- 
position of two substantives, which is very common in 
English, as city-gates, sea-shore, forest-tree, ox-stall, and 
being so compounded these words do not change, nor do the 
leading substantives vary on account of number, and at 
the same time supersede the necessity of case, which does 
not exist, so to say, in our language. This is a laconism 
not to be found in other tongues, except, perhaps, Chinese, 
which on account of its antiquity has many striking 
features deemed exclusively our own. 

In the Universal Grammar is this observation, <f II a fallu 
necessairement quetous les autres motsvinssent desnoms. 
II n'est aucun mot de quelqu' espece que ce soit et dans 
quelque langue que ce soit, qui ne descende d'un nom." 
This recognises but one part of speech. Verbs all derive 
from nouns, and particles arc mere fragments of nouns. The 
very termination of nouns is articular, as og in Xoyoc, and 
all endings in as, cs, is, os, us, um — and that of verbs is 
pronominal — nouns and verbs have neither gender, number, 
nor case. Puer, puerus, and puera — as pueros meos, my 
children — adolcsccns, homo, &c. not being confined to 
gender, can other words have gender, for it is a singular 



124 

anomaly and a deviation from the order of nature to have 
genders in nouns ? See Dr. Beattie, Theory of Language, 
p. 137, who quotes Dr. Clarke on it, who gives a variety 
of examples from Homer. In this respect some Oriental 
tongues, as Persian, resemble the English. The Latins said 
hominem malam, and Cicero, Tullia homo nata est, and 
Virum me natarri esse vellem ; and Plautus has Fures estis 
ambce, quis ea est? Some nouns are of both genders, 
while some nouns are joined to one gender first, and then 
to another in the same sentence, as (( Specus asper et 
adeunda" in Ovid, and Epicaene — or Supercommune — as 
timidi damse — usually applied to animals and insects. 

The ancients represented the same Deity masculine and 
feminine, as Lunus, Luna. Janus, Jana, which is Diana- 
De- Jana. Juno is lona, lo, Iona, and even Venus is called 
Venus Junonia. 

In Latin, Greek, and Hebrew many nouns substantive 
take the plural peculiar to them, and do not submit to the 
English signs of plurality, as phenomena — seraph-phim, 
cherub -in, genius-ii, radius-ii — but words which are na- 
turalised should bend to the genius of the language, as it 
causes great discrepance if they are inflected. 

Some words have diverse meanings styled intentions, 
and are very comprehensive. Ex.: Extension is either 
length,- height, depth — of these length strikes the least — 
as " A 100 yards of even ground will never work such an 
effect as a tower of 100 yards high, or a rock or mountain 
of such altitude/' 

Some words are misspelled as height for hight, the e be- 
ing superfluous coming from high, so with sleight for slight 
— vitiated might be written vitiated, as deriving from vice. 
Words vary their meaning sometimes according to 
accent only, as gallant, and gallant, and assume a significa- 
tion according to situation, which, when they stand alone, 
they do not signify. 



125 

Some words have even quite opposite significations, like 
stand as opposed to fall, and stand as opposed to fly. Also 
the word let means permission and hindrance too. Let 
me do so without let or hindrance. 

" I will make a ghost of him that lets me." — Hamlet. 

The vocable cleave is in this category, as cleave to, 
means adhere, as cleave to his wife, and in the sense of 
division, it means separate from, as cleave a tree with an 
axe. There are not many examples of such words having 
a directly opposite meaning, and when this is the case 
generally they derive from a different radix. 

Tell me what state, what dignity, what honour, 
Canst thou demise to any child of mine ? — Shakspere. 

Dr. Johnson thought devise should be written for de- 
mise, but this is a common law term as well as demise ; 
which derives from demittere, and means a death or a 
grant on death, by will or legal instrument. 

Many significations per se, depend on the sense and 
not on the strict rules of art. Advert also that authors 
in their compositions are guided by the sense and not 
always by adopted phraseology or artificial rules, which 
is a proof that writing has its foundation in nature, 
and depends on the faculty of the human mind, for 
do we not read that the power of speech is a faculty 
peculiar to man, and was bestowed for the best of 
uses ? Artificial rules seldom make good poets or orators 
if they possess not the necessary qualities, the divine 
energy of genius, which, as a superior illumination, is 
derived from an invisible source to further great results. 
u Spirits are not finely touched, save to fine issues." 

And that issue is the perfection of beauty and happiness, 
for the moral instinct of man and his exertions in this his 
sublunary state is to advance that truth which is to lessen 
his weight of evil and augment his sum of good. 



126 



On Adjectives. 

Adjective is the name of a quality, and the adverb is an 
adjective or a comparison of qualities; but philosophically 
considered the separation of quality from substance 
involves a contradiction. 

Grammarians say a noun is the name of a thing, and an 
adjective shews the quality of a thing; but adjectives 
qualify adjectives, substantives, and adverbs, while adverbs 
modify verbs and sometimes adjectives, as extreme elabo- 
rate, marvellous graceful, extraordinary rare, and we say 
not a verily honest man, but a very honest man, where 
very is an adjective, as in Very God of very God — Verus 
Deus ex Vero Deo. This adjective is compared, as Verier, 
veriest. 

" Was not my Lord the verier wag of the two V s — 

Winter's Tale. 

We can put two adjectives together and that correctly 
too, a diction elegant in which our progenitors delighted, 
and we sustain a grammatical loss, by neglecting or repudi- 
ating the practice, for certainly two adjectives impart more 
force than the adverb, as in these proofs, — He was extreme 
vain, — amazing clever, — exceeding uncommon. He said po- 
sitive he would not write, — agreeable to promise. He said 
express he would. I can not think so mean of him. Some 
write softer than others — fine and soft. Locke writes, 
Many reason exceeding clear, who know not how to make 
a syllogism. I have cited these examples to revive remem- 
brance of what, although fallen into desuetude, is still 
the language of nature in which our eminent authors 
delighted. 

The adjective with us is unchangeable in respect of 
number or sex, like the Persian it has no numerical or 
sexual variation, but in inflected tongues it agrees with the 
subject, and occasionally takes three genders, as the Latin 
par, concors, &c. — although no words of necessity agree 



127 

with others, any more than two words can be properly said 
to govern, all construction depending on custom or the 
natural order of reasoning incident to the mind. We may 
reason clear enough without the adjunct of logical canons, 
for logic is virtually in the sense and conception. 

To make the adjective accord with the subject or object 
forms a closer connection than the adverb, as He behaved 
himself conformable to that example; — He lived suitable 
to one in his station, where he and suitable agree. So in, 
Bees construct their cells according to the nicest rules of 
art, where according is an adjective or participle and agrees 
with bees. 

" Conscience will preserve you from error provided you 
attend to its suggestions," where provided is a participle 
and forms a postulate with the word that implied, and is 
equivalent to an ablative absolute. 

We are sometimes redundant and use adjectives with- 
out occasion, as in good health, which denotes freedom 
from pain and disorder, where health does not require the 
epithet good which is superfluous. 

In substantives are mostly comprised the adjectives, and 
in the adjective is implied the relative, as a man, that is 
one man, or of the men. 

The adjective frequently follows the verb attracted by 
the subject or object, hence it is that the adverb can not 
modify the adjective, for the adjective is more elegantly 
applied to the subject than the same adverbialised to 
modify the verb. A repetition of the adjective to denote 
excess is better than the adverb, as 

u Sedate and silent move the numerous bands." 
" Swift down the steep of heaven the chariot rolls." 

Now it is patent that these adjectives have more energy 
than adverbs could have, for they qualify their respective 
substantives, and supply us with a variety of expression. 

Sometimes a substantive is used adjectively which should 
be written as an adjective, as extempore for extemporary — 



128 

All the theatres, mysteries, and moralities have had their 
origin in a kind of extempore farce. 

Mr. Chambaud, who wrote a French grammar, expected 
nothing less than immortality for changing the word ad- 
jective into ad-noun, but this term was used long before 
by Richard Johnson, the grammarian. 

Adjective means to lay alongside indefinitely, but ad- 
noun properly restricts the attributes to its noun, although 
of this there may be doubt. 

Some adjectives are used substantively in a collective 
sense, as few, many, all, &c. as Some say, few like it. Many 
approve the doctrine— all concur : And Shakspere, in whose 
pages all the grandeur of sentiment and eccentricity of 
diction are to be found, has, " O thou fond many." 

Some and same, from so, are synonymous, and mean 
quantity in opposition to none, while many has a reference 
to number, much to quantity, as You do not gain so much 
as him ; but much is also used for number, as Much peo- 
ple, much grass in the place. 

" How many a message would he send." Many was for- 
merly written men-ye, manya. Orthography was taken 
from the sound and not the latter from the former. Our 
ancestors used a for he and she, as o was employed for one 
and omitted by abbreviation for of also ; and a may be the 
precursor of he and she, for in the description of Falstaff's 
death this appears, A made a finer end and went away an 
it had been any christom child — a parted, &c. and a 
babbled o' green fields— many times — many a time and 
oft. Magnus eorum numerus est occisus — A good many 
were slain. 

Adjectives ending in ly do not admit an additional ly to 
adverbialise them. Ly has two meanings, one is like the 
German gleich ; and one means icay, and are two distinct 
words, the latter derives from leag a field, liggan to lie, so 
we get lee or lea from ley, lee, lay, and these correspond 



129 

in Greek to 6$oq, as Kvvr]dbv doggedly, and in Latin to iter, 
way, felic-iter, happi-ly. 

This was done wisely, means in a wise way ; so of daily, 
and in English goodly and early are adjectives and adverbs 
too. " The whole design must refer to the golden age which 
it lively represents." 

The way or manner in which an action or attribute exists 
is to be specified, and ly is annexed to the word, modifying 
the action or attribute, as, He is extremely rich; wisely 
done. 

But if the word modifying action or attribute can be 
referred to the subject or object of the proposition, it must 
be omitted. 

The necessity of an adjective may be removed by con- 
verting it into a substantive, and the less we use adjectives 
the better, as, A swift dog, may be changed into a dog of 
swiftness. 

For the powerful use to be made of adjectives see a quo- 
tation from Pope's lines on an unfortunate Lady cited in 
the Figures of Speech in this tractate, which addenda I 
give to illustrate grammar as well as poetic ideas replete 
with those elevated thoughts which produce correspondent 
diction. 

I have remarked, page 63, that when the adjective was 
introduced into language the system was changed. The 
Chinese really had no adjective, and it appears that the 
infinitive mood became an adjective, which is a larger 
power than any infinitive had before ; and if the Chinese 
lingual necessities can be represented by this infinitive, it 
is tantamount to its having no adjective at all, properly so 
called, if it is served by a substitute. 

In North America, one of the many tongues spoken in 
New England is the Muh-he-ka-heow or Mohcgan ; and a 
translation of the Bible into it was effected by one Mr. 
Elliot, a missionary, in which he shows that nouns adjective^ 

K 



130 

or nouns are the origin of adjectives, as they enumerate or 
recapitulate the qualities of nouns. 

Compound epithets are used in all savage tongues as 
well as in more plastic and refined, especially in Greek, which 
the jocose critics style long-tailed epithets; and although 
we can compound as well as the Greeks and Germans, the 
genius of our tongue admits these indulgencies but sparingly 
in comparison of what have been drawn from the storehouse 
of antiquity. 

The adjective own is generally prefixed to the word self, 
so I have adverted to these words here instead of under 
nouns. This self is, however, a noun, and should be de- 
tached from him, her, them, one, &c. Former writers 
were wont to separate seZfand selves from their adjectives, 
leaving no doubt as to which class they belong. 

Dr. Lowth and others call myself &c. reciprocal pronouns 
where agent and object are the same. There can be no 
reciprocity of action, however, where one person only is 
concerned. These pronouns are reflected in the cases men- 
tioned, because the impression of the verb is reflected on 
the agent. 

Own and self This is said to be an adname derived from 
eigen in German ; or eidho, own in Celtic, eidhor, my own 
■ — and is so far from possessing any pronominal power, that 
like its synonyme it requires the aid either of a substantive 
or a pronoun to impart to it any meaning. 

Self may derive from Saul, soul — as " Juravi per animam, 
meam," I have sworn by myself. The word silba in Gothic 
is sylph, spirit — and in Flemish self has the same significa- 
tion. 

Self is a name, the synonyme of individuality — self and 
soul are then equivalent, all the powers of the mind and 
soul, perception and volition, or will, memory and under- 
standing being comprised. 

The word in Sanskrit corresponding to self and soul and 



131 

life are identical. Atmd, says Dr. Miiller, may be ahma, 
derived from a -ham, ad-am, ego, or I. 

The phrase I have sworn by myself means by essence, 
spirit, origin, and is equipollent to the phrase in the Bible, 
" / am hath sent you" — Source of all things, from which 
by analogy it may be deduced, that spirit or esse must be 
the only part of speech. For there is unity in language, 
numbers and matter, all substance whatever deriving from 
one fountain, whether it be gas, geist, or peradventure a 
subtler form of matter. Electricity is a form of matter, 
for it has been held to be the pervading material principle 
of the universe, and hence celestial regions are like the 
planets obnoxious to the general laws of matter ; matter 
may be undulatory like fire and light, whose recondite 
properties are the cherished objects of natural philosophers 
to detect and evolve, " looking from nature up to nature's 
God ;" for nature begins from causes and descends to 
effects, while human perceptions first open on effects, and 
by slow degrees ascend to causes. In fact every organ in 
life has a specific plan and action, perfect, but bearing 
relation to other orders and functions, all united to one 
life and subserving one soul. 

The Latin solus, seul, seul-meme, from medessimo and 
mismo in Italian, from which language the French is im- 
mediately derived, and mediately from the Latin, a refined 
Keltic, where we find mcmet for self. 

There are many adjectives in ive, which termination 
means desire, as sport-ive, plaint-ive, restiff, — restive, and it 
is equivalent to ing. The termination ess is properly sub- 
joined to nouns of the feminine gender, as Heir-ess, govern- 
ess, Princ-ess, Duch-ess. Moderns have converted the old 
Marquis into Marqu-ess — but why ? for surely it is better 
to retain its proper ending, which is correspondent to 
the French, and which was always so spelled in English, 
than give to a masculine noun a feminine termination, by 

k 2 



132 

changing i into e and geminating the 5. It is " giving to 
Titus old Vespasian's due." 

We think then that self may be found in soul, and own 
is palpably derived from owe, which is the same as one (see 
under Have and Of) hence wv Being. It can be so rendered, 
as in Cicero's boastful assertion, Dixi med unius opera rem- 
publicam esse salvam. I avowed by my own exertion (of 
myself) the Commonwealth was secured. Self means same 
also, as, 

" At that self moment enters Palamon." 

Knight's Tale, Chaucer. 

" To shoot another arrow that self way 
Which you did shoot the first." — Merchant of Venice, 



On Cases. 

In all inflected tongues cases must be used, and case 
means accident, and accident proceeds from necessity. 
But case once adopted the inventors found more than they 
expected. 

Whatever case you give to the noun the meaning con- 
tinues the same, it is identical, and can not be different 
even in imagination. 

Cases are taken actively and passively — moods and tenses 
may be so applied. In Latin and English the active and 
passive are promiscuously applied. Whether the case be 
the accusative or ablative after the preposition, the meaning 
remains the same, as, " ad dimidiam partem, vel ex dimidia 
parte unum idem que significant." 

A case is not appropriated to one precise idea, it is best 
understood in a language in which the preposition does all, 
and to which, as to the English, the case is unknown. 

Case, says Lord Bacon, de Augm. vi. 1, is the language 
of philosophers and not of necessity, or of an assurance 



133 

that the genius of ancient days was more acute than that 
of modern times. We have done as much without their 
inflection, and without their obscurity too. 

The Latins express the prepositions by cases generally, 
but the Greeks to be perspicuous adhere more to the pre- 
positions ; where the sense is endangered the Latins have 
recourse to the preposition, as, Liber a virtute — liber in 
ipsa servitute. 

Cases, indeed all cases may so be, are put absolute, and 
so may be said to be when the preposition is not expressed, 
and words when the principal is omitted. An instance of 
an absolute accusative in 

Quern non super (stitem or stantem) occupat Hisbo, 
Ille quidem hoc sperans. — Virgil, 2En. 10, v. 385. 

Nouns denoting or betokening part of time are commonly 
put absolutely, but those betokening a continual term of 
time without ceasing or intermission are commonly put in 
the accusative. 

The genitive case is sometimes made absolute, which 
happens also to the accusative and ablative. See Port 
Royal Greek Grammar. Ex. : Tlapayovra rov Irjarov, Jesus 
passed thence. Matt. ix. 

" But Yulcanus of whom I spoke, he was a shrew in all 
his youth." Whether we consider Vulcanus as forming a 
case absolute with but or otherwise, the phrase is a perfect 
facsimile of the Latin. 

Me Consule id feci, or Ego consul feci, or, Feci consul 
ego, or purely Feci consul. In fact, graphic construction 
is not confined to a particular tongue, its influence extends 
universally, and the English, by adopting universal con- 
struction, have shewn the extent of their learning, and have 
risen superior in the art of composition, or at least equal 
to any civilised nation. 

In French and English the preposition is suppressed by 



134 

way of elegance, this is termed absolute, as La bataille 
rangee l'ennemi abandonna le camp — Elle lui parla ; Les 
Gueux sont baignes de larmes. Is not every case absolute 
in inflected languages ? In English the genitive is in needs, 
certes, that is of need, of a certainty. Absolute means no 
more than the omission of a preposition or the ellipsis of 
any other word. 

Cases are termed oblique and objective ; the latter is the 
accusative case only, while the oblique are genitive, dative, 
and ablative cases. 

A nominative can not be called a case — it is the substan- 
tive uninflected, and may be used without a verb, as The 
prophets, where are they ? My banks, they are covered 
with bees. The Lord, he is God. 

The genitive case is styled the possessive or apostrophic 
case in the nomenclature of grammar, and is the only one 
in English which is said to be inflected or subject to ellipsis, 
which is an omission of either a letter, or a word in a 
sentence. 

The English possessive case resembles the ancient Saxon, 
and is confined to the singular number, as John's hat — 
This book is Mary's, or this book is hers — "William his book, 
that is, is his book. But this case should not extend 
properly to nouns denoting things without life. It is said, 
but with doubtful propriety, for righteousness' sake, though 
it were better said for the sake of righteousness ; and in 
all cases where two s' collide, a single s should be used, as 
Moses' son. If several nouns come together in this case 
the apostrophe with s is annexed to the last noun only, as 
this was my father, mother, uncle's advice. 

S is beautifully omitted in many instances, especially 
after s or x in prose and poetry ; and though chiefly admis- 
sible and used in poetry, yet it should be extended to prose 
always as more euphonious and equally explicative. Ex. : 
Moses' minister, Achilles' wrath, Phoenix' daughter, Ajax' 



135 

arms. This remark should extend to all cases where con- 
sonants collide with s. In the Semitic languages it is ex- 
pressed by the termination of the prior word, and not by 
of ] as with us. 

The double genitive is of great service in English to 
avoid ambiguity, as John and William are friends ; John 
goes into the country and desires William to see his (John's) 
house in town. This refers to John ; his own house would 
have referred to William. 

When the possessor, to whom another is said to belong, 
is expressed by many terms, this genitive cas'e ought not 
to be used, hence we should not say, The Emperor of 
Germany's armies ; but reversing the words the expression 
then becomes more agreeable to the ear ; of such conse- 
quence is correct speech. 

The Saxons had no genitive case which terminated in is. 
Es may be a contraction of is or us formerly used for plurals, 
as was eth — hence it is used in English ; its symbolical 
signification, and notes the efficient cause. See pages 33, 78. 

Felix' mahogany book case, or have you seen EehV 
ebony inkstand ? This phrase contains every case to be 
found in every inflected language ; and in Greek or Latin 
would require four different cases. 

The learned shewed great ingenuity in their formation 
of cases which they effected by varying the form of a single 
symbol e, for this is the origin of all inflection in Greek, 
Latin, and English, and thus rendering the use of preposi- 
tions superfluous ; and this extends also to their verbal 
terminations with personality added. Were not all the 
varieties of tense expressed originally by the first or present 
tense ? 

A modal proposition depends on some verb implied, or 
is expressed by a termination which is equivalent to it ; to 
any verb or word which may be implied. 

In composition all connection is supplied by the mind. 



136 

Versus inopes rerum nugseque canorse. — Horace on impure 

verses. 
Veteres avias tibi de pulmone revello — I pluck from your 
heart early prejudices. — Persius, Sat. v. 92. 

The genitive case is formed into a dative occasionally, as 
immitis Achilli, for Achillis, which proves that these cases, 
though they differ in form, agree in signification. Virgil 
connects a genitive epithet with a dative substantive. 

The termination of the genitive case was no other than 
the preposition ex affixed, the dative eni abbreviated. The 
i subscript in Greek is only evl. The Latins ended all their 
datives in i, till they found it redundant, and gained in con- 
cinnity of expression what the Greeks enjoyed in certainty 
of expression. 

Dies and. fades were originally the genitive case of the 
fifth declension. The Latins disliked the letter s and em- 
ployed the dative for it, as Herculi for Herculis. 

Ulyxi for Ulyxis or Ulyssis, making the adjective in the 
genitive agree with the substantive in the dative, and re- 
jecting the sibilant s. Fami was adopted for famis, and 
Aristoteli for the genitive also in Pliny, also nulli and 
nemini. fC Tu frugi bonae es," in the Casina of Plautus for 
frugis ; translated in French, Pour peu que tu sois brave, 
Should you manage well, alluding to his being an efficient 
husband. — See AinswortVs Dictionary, generally an excel- 
lent authority. 

The genitive and indeed all possessives have both an 
active and passive signification. Hence many words are 
taken in both these senses, as formidolosus, dreaded or to 
be dreaded, suspiciosus, &c. Such is inherent in speech. 

The substantive verb esse and the verb in motion ire are 
identical, so admit an accusative as the object of that motion. 

We are prepared to receive the possessives in combination 
with the genitive, as Dixi mea unius opera, I said by my 
own toil. 



137 

Tuum hominis simplicis pectus vidimus. 
Meum solius peccatum corrigi non potest. 
In sua cujusque laude prsestantior. 
Nostra omnium memoria. 

The Greeks may have borrowed some of their roots from 
the Chinese — that tongue has no ablative case, it is formed 
by the use of particles, and the Greek has none. The Port 
Royal grammarians thought there -was an ablative in Greek, 
but that it always resembled andwasidenticalwith the dative, 
and where an ablative is governed in Latin, the same may 
be in Greek, unless drawn to the genitive by a preposition. 

The dative supplies the place of an ablative in Celtic, 
Greek, and Chinese, so the Greek dative with equal pro- 
priety might be made to agree with the Latin ablative. 

The genitive in Greek is the constant equivalent in Latin 
to the ablative. The final en as golden-ring was thought 
to be a mark of the genitive by Mithridates minor, but it 
is only the preposition in corrupted into en. Page 55. 

Case is an indeterminate relation, and is best understood 
when translated into a language which has no case, for 
artificial languages to be understood must be referred to a 
natural one, like English, an universal grammatical solvent, 
the most learned and simplest of all, naturally becomes the 
analysis of inflected speech. The Hebrew is very simple, 
but complex compared to ours. Of all the ancient lan- 
guages extant, says Dr. Lowth, that is the most simple 
which is undoubtedly the most ancient, but even that lan- 
guage itself docs not equal the English in simplicity. 

The cases in Hebrew are formed at the beginning of the 
noun, and not by inflection as in some languages, with a 
preposition prefixed as, Melcch-King, Lcmelcch to a King, 
Mimelcch from a King. A language like English, where 
the words are distinct and separate, must be more per- 
spicuous than any inflected contrivances, each word having 
its own peculiar weight and significance. 



138 



On Comparison. 

Antithesis or opposition is a figure whereby things dif- 
ferent or contrary are compared, and placed near, that they 
may set off and illustrate each other. 

In logic comparatives, superlatives, and adverbs of quality 
are termed modes of moods ; and mood is a legitimate de- 
termination of propositions according to their quantity 
and quality. 

When different persons are compared, the terms of com- 
parison must correspond to each other, as He is as learned 
as she, I loved him as well as her, You are wiser than I, 
I admire her more than him. 

Dr. Hickes in his Saxon grammar remarks that compara- 
tives among the Anglo-Saxons terminate indifferently in 
ar, cer, ir, or, ur ; superlatives in ast, est, &c. ; participles 
in and and end; and preterites in ad, ed } &c, by which it 
is obvious that all the variety of vocal exhibitions are mere 
modifications of the first letter — a, ma, me, &c, running 
into the subdivisions. 

The modern English retains much of the Old Saxon, for 
the casual particles, terminations of cases, conjugations, 
verbs, passive voice, prepositions, and the peculiarity of 
the Saxon of that day is the language of England. 

Priority of motion is evidenced by r or er, when nature 
or analogy require it, but prime or terminated motion is 
expressed by st or est on similar occasions. 

The comparative degree relates to two, the superlative to 
more than two, yet the comparative is not restricted to two 
persons or things. The comparative is put for the positive, 
as Tristior solito, somewhat sorrowful. 

The force of the comparison is included in the particle. 
In the French by que, and the Hebrews, who have no com- 



139 

parative degree, use min, the Greeks use rj, Latins quam, 
prse and pro, and the Spanish mas. 

Comparisons are made by as, which H. Tooke affirms to 
be an article, and means the same as it, that, which. In 
German it is written es, and does not derive from als, but 
answers to wg, on, at. " I had such a son as or that, all men 
hailed me happy " The word so means also it and that. 
Ex. : Swift as darts, means that swiftness with which darts 

fly- 

In a negative proposition so and as are correctives, as 
Pompey was not so fortunate as Csesar, Nothing is so 
amiable as Virtue, Not so fair as the day — hence as is 
preceded by so in a negative proposition. 

In an affirmative proposition the comparison is made by 
as and as repeated — he is as young as you. "When a com- 
parison is made between two, they must agree in denomi- 
nation, as I love her more than him. 

The positive degree is applied when equality or inequality 
is expressed, as he is as learned as you. When a conse- 
quence is expressed so is followed by as to, or that, as, 
She was so enraged as to strike him. 

So in comparison never admits the qualifying adverbs 
between itself and the adjective, as and so being comparative 
terms render unnecessary the words more and less, as 
William is not so learned as John, is equivalent to is less 
learned than John. In comparison the two terms must 
coincide — I see her better than he. 

When the symbol e passes into other symbols they are 
but different modifications of the symbol e — all vowels are 
but varieties of the first sound. 

When we observe the nature of comparison made by as, 
which signifies according to, in proportion to, we shall not 
be at a loss to account for the oblique pronoun following it, 
As one is to two, so is two to four ; as one-half is to one, so 
is one to two. 



140 

The word as is continually repeated, as firm as faith ; 
but the efficacy of the phrase would not be diminished if 
the first as were omitted. Ex. : He is great as his master, 
&c. ; and so may be substituted as, so great, &c. 

When as answers to such ought it not to be termed a 
relative, and has it uot a claim equal with who and which 
to that appellation ? 

The word as in Latin is the same as u g one, and not only 
signifies a piece of money, but any integer. So from it 
derives our word ace, a unit or point on card or dice. 
Miser seque atque ego, as miserable as I. Nunquam adeo 
fcedus. Juvenal, B. viii. v. 183. Never so foul. 

The Hebrew and Arabic have no comparative inflections. 
The former does not distinguish between a relative and 
an absolute superlative ; and in it there are three genders 
and three numbers. The cases are distinguished by par- 
ticles prefixed as in English. 

The Hebrew has also three degrees of comparison — two 
degrees formed by placing min after the positive, and the 
third by placing meod before the positive, as too good, meod 
tob, very or most good. But the superlative is generally 
shewn by the repetition or re-iteration to the sign, as tob, 
tob, good, good. 

A plural neuter subject as Ilavra is joined to a verb 
singular, as Ion. Since the plural verb may do the office of 
the dual number, so may the plural comparative and super- 
lative discharge the function of the dual or comparative. 

In the 118th Psalm the Greek is positive and the English 
is comparative. 

^AyaObv weiroLdivai, kir\ Kvpiov rj TTETroOivai i7r' avOpwirov. 
'AyaOhv Wttl^uv liri Kvpiov ?'/ IXiriZuv lir apyovvi. 
It is better to trust in the Lord than to put any confidence 

in mau. 
It is better to trust in the Lord than to put any confidence 

in princes. 



141 

The Hebrew comparative is not by inflection bnt by a 
preposition, as, Wisdom is good above rubies ; and the super- 
lative is, good above tbem all — for better than them all. 

Dr. Watts in his Logic says, that the comparative degree 
does not always imply the positive, and to prove the position 
give us this sentence— A fool is better than a knave. 

This he says does not affirm that folly is good, but that 
it is less than knavery. Perhaps the sentence were better 
thus, A fool is not so bad as a knave, which means a knave 
is worse than a fool — but thought and language act and 
re-act on each other mutually. 

Every art, says Dr. Johnson, is obscure to those that 
have not learned it. This uncertainty of terms and com- 
mixture of ideas is well known to those who have joined 
philosophy to grammar ; for orthography and etymology, 
though imperfect, are not so from want of care, but because 
care will not always be successful, and recollection and 
information come too late for use. Philosophy is the 
hypothesis or system on which natural effects are explained. 

We use the adverb than after a comparative adjective, 
which word is the same as then. Denn in German is 
synonymous with also, and is used as such, signifying then 
than, prse, before, ere. Canon \*J, p. 10. 

The comparative involves the positive and the superla- 
tive both, as genus does species, and sometimes er and erst 
are used in comparison in lieu of more and most. Ex. : 
Sceptre and power I gladlier shall resign. Er and erst 
note priority and proximity of motion applicable to adverbs 
also. Er is the same as ere, which is before. Wiser ere 
he — wise erst all. There and most were anciently used for 
the modern much and very, as more for much braver. The 
Duke of Milan and his more braver daughter. See Canon 
18, p. 10. Now more here is not comparative ; it is 
positive — most and very obedient are decidedly the same — 
" A dreadful quiet felt and trorser far than arms/' 



142 

"Well expressed by Socratesbutmuchbetterby Solomon/ 5 
The Hebrews do not distinguish between a relative and an 
absolute superlative. More means large — in Celtic maur — 
as Malcolm Can-maur or more — large head. More means 
a heap ; as is mow, a barley mow, which is what is mowed. 
So is mathj after-math. H. Tooke says these comparatives, 
much, more, most, have exceedingly gravelled all our ety- 
mologists, and they touch them as tenderly as they can. 

Much is from the same source with ch, like heap. The 
Chinese ch is compounded with who, and so, which and 
such. " Then found Sir Bevis more greater defence ;" and 
much greater is used. Much and more are used by Spenser 
for a very great number. " The commodities doth not 
countervail the discommodities, for the inconveniences 
which thereby doth arise, are much, more, many" 

Worser and lesser were in good use in the days of 
Dry den and Addison, (Canon 18, p. 10), yet Dr. Lowth 
censures this and some of the cardinal beauties of English 
as adopted by our early classics, as : 

The use of me in lieu of I, as greater than me ; suffers 
more than me, which is Celtic diction. We say more than 
us. Mightier than him. So eminent an author as him. 
Stone and sand are weighty, but a fool's wrath is heavier 
than them both. 

There is not an English prose or poetic author who does 
not use this diction, despite Dr. Lowtlr's effete criticism. 
Then finish, dear Chloe, this pastoral war, 

And let us like Horace and Lydia agree. 
Eor thou art a girl as much brighter than her, 
As he was a poet sublimer than me. 

Despite the critique of the Bishop of London, who 
seems not to have been so good an English scholar, as a 
Hebrew, Latin, and Greek one, these citations bring evi- 
dence to the correspondence between Celtic, Latin and 
English, the more valuable as it exhibits the analogy 



143 

between these tongues. Our early writers use most for 
very, as the very least, the very last, best, &c. which is now 
used also. The Celtic differs from the learned languages 
in having no case to the nouns, or passive verbs in the 
common use of auxiliary verbs, &c. 

Hermes says that two persons or things compared, er is 
always used, as wiser than thou; if more by est. Is it 
improper then to say, wiser than all ? Quoting Faith, hope 
and charity, these three, but the greatest of these is 
charity. It is remarkable that in the Greek, however, the 
comparative is used ; Nuiu ^£ julva -kigtiq, IXttIq, aycnrr), 
ra rpta ravra, fjL£i%u)v Ss tovtwv 17 aycnrr). 1 Corinth, xiii. 
13. The Latins occasionally adopt this diction. 

The figure ellipsis is frequent in these instances of com- 
parison, as, He is a greater loser by her death than me, 
that is in comparison of me. She is fairer than him, that 
is ere him, before him, fairer, then comes Mm. He steps 
me a little higher, that is he steps a little higher before 
me. I follow me close, which is I keep myself to the 
point. Again, He is none like him, that is not like him — 
like him in no respects. 

In Latin, as far as regards comparison, the termination 
was originally used, and also the preposition, as Prse ceteris 
feris mitior cerva. But prce was discontinued when or its 
synonyme was adopted. On this principle the oblique 
pronouns, as used by the best writers, may and ought in 
comparison to be substituted for their nominatives — Miser 
aut major est prse me — altcro me — secundo me, that is 
ab altero. Modestior nunc est prse ut dudum fuit — more 
modest compared to what he was. 

Mulo perspicacior, more obstinate than a mule. The 
Germans use also which means else, but it is not as. Pisce 
sanior, pluma levior. Domus celebratior ita cum maxime, 
famed as much as ever — curres quam maxime poteris. 
Dicam quanta maxime brevitate potcro — I will speak with 



144 

all possible speed. Termination is the creature of con- 
venience, and when convenience requires it not, it may be 
dismissed or disused. 

More than me, him, &c. is me dimisso — greater fortune 
than her, is ilia dimissa, pluma levior is prce understood. 
In French we say, " Je ne suis pas si benSt que de me fier a 
un ennemi reconcilie." This word Benet, is our Bennet and 
Benedict, made to apply to a simpleton, as the Germans 
style a blockhead, a Hanswurst or Jack-pudding. We say 
Simple Simon. Such is usage on which so much depends. 

It is said that than always follows the comparative, by 
Dr. Lowth, which is not so, as I am more contented with- 
out them. Have you more besides those? I am less 
deceived besides her. Canon 17 5 p. 10. 

To compel the writer to use than, and than only after 
the comparative, is to deprive the author of the great variety 
of expression afforded by the learned languages, in which 
we find ante, supra, prce, prater, applied severally to the 
three degrees of comparison, and would render us poor in 
composition. 

Let me remark that there is no more difference between 
when and then than there is between where and there, 
who or that, but in their application, the sense being one 
and the same. The fact is that grammarians have taken 
too narrow a view of them, by applying it only to com- 
parative classes, for the words, than, then, when, are 
synonymous, and this citation reinforces the allegation. 

" Scarce had he received the homage of the new Pontiff, 
than, then, when John the 12th had the courage," &c. 

The same remark extends to every case in which modern 
writers differ in the application of words from their prede- 
cessors. " Facies non omnibus una, nee diversa tamen" — 
how variously soever metaphysical authors may diversify 
identity. 

Comparisons are made with but — as There were no more 



145 

but five — which is prater ea — as praeter solitum ; solito, 
ultra solitum. "Crucem statui jussit prseter cseteras 
altiorem." This is none other but the house of God. 
Trust in Christ is no more but to acknowledge him for God. 

The word rather is of doubtful application to express a 
small degree or excess of quality. Ex. : She is rather 
profuse ; which should be she is too profuse in expences. 
Rath, rather, rathest, means counsel ; rathsel in German 
is our riddle. 

If you can convert rather into sooner the term will be 
properly applied, but if it will not admit the conversion, 
the use of it should be rejected. I would rather die than 
submit. 

The adverb far is compared, and perhaps further might 
imply procession, and farther, retrocession. 

To the mutations of language I have before adverted, 
and have adduced instances of anomalies under the figure 
of enallage, and here I remind the reader how we can 
benefit, as do the learned languages, by the same figure. 
Page 32. 

We can substitute of for the relative of possession; we 
can substitute the specific for the plural term, and the 
conjunctive for the absolute possessive. We can put be 
for were, was for were, and is for was, which was not an 
uncommon practice. Hence the critique of Dr. Lowth on 
you was must be abandoned, as his reasoning proceeds on 
a mistake in supposing was always to be singular. It 
served instead of were even in the miscalled subjunctive 
mood by Lord Bolingbroke, as " Would to heaven you was 
with me." If you was here ; and this subverts the hypcr- 
criticism of the Bishop of London. Sometimes are is 
used for is, as in this example from the Spectator, No. 66. 

Aristotle tells us, u That the world is a copy or transcript 
of those ideas which arc in the mind of the first Being, 
and that those ideas which are in the mind of man are a 

L 



146 

transcript of the world. To this we may add that words 
are the transcript of those ideas which are in the mind of 
man, and that writing and printing are the transcript of 
words." Peradventure correct writing would require is 
and not are the transcript of words. 

Advert that we can also omit the personal terminations 
of the verb, and omit the comparative and superlative 
terminations, and compare with as and so for er and est. 

We may neglect the adverb of manner and substitute 
the adjective, making it agree with the subject or object 
of the proposition according to the exigence. 

The repetition of the positive is the natural superlative 
as true true, means as true as truth ; as the dial to the 
sun — or with different adjectives, as wondrous wise, 
indifferent honest, passing rich, all most graceful and 
pertinent expressions, whatever captious critics may object. 
Page 126. 

In Hebrew tob tob means good repeated, and in Tartary 
they say black black for intensity of colour, and even the 
proper name Caucasus is no other than the word koh koh, 
meaning hill, reiterated. In fact we deal greatly in super- 
latives in all desultory discourse which may be said to 
wound either truth or prudence, for we scruple not to say 
in a comparatively small matter, It is the worst thing ever 
done ; the best ever seen, &c. 

Let us come now in this chapter on comparisons to the 
last, called the superlative degree, expressed by est, most, 
as " "Which is the most noble employment of a rational being, 
love or friendship? Friendship is the child of reason, 
Love is the fondling of the passions." 

The superlative does not form a comparison, this being 
proper to the comparative, neither does superlative always 
express supreme degree. 

The most highest means no more than the very highest, 
beyond compare, as the chiefest, extremest is only the very 



147 

chief. " The most principal and mightiest in the dwellings 
of Ham." 

Negative and superlative terms are not properly so to 
speak, compared, although instances exist in our best 
authors to the contrary. It is supposed they neither 
admit intension nor remission. 

The Psalms have most highest, and Milton says wisest, 
discreetest, virtuosest, best. 

It has been asserted by some that the English has no 
connection with Latin and Greek, if so we shall have not 
much to boast as far as occasional structure is concerned, 
as in this phrase : 

Adam the goodliest of men since born 
His sons ; the fairest of her daughters Eve. 

Shallow censurers, Newspaper critics, have said Adam 
must be supposed to be one of his own sons, and Eve one of 
her own daughters, but how patent it is that in comparison 
is meant need not be hinted, much less explicated. The 
language of England is elliptical and beautifully so in 
prose and rhyme which render it laconic and energetic. 
If we do not observe these powers our language may lapse 
into rapid decline, and its native and original laconism 
and energy yielding daily to nerveless verbosity will leave 
it like a rope of sand, or a house of cards, without strength 
and without cohesion. 

The decadence of language is attributed to hasty trans- 
lators, to ignorant and overweening grammarians, and to 
negligence in cursory speech in those who instead of con- 
sulting its genius and structure conveyed to us by eminent 
authority, which adorned the classic page, have induced a 
system of verbal policy based on external laws to which 
even common sense is subordinate. Now the aim of a 
good grammarian or author, whether a standard author or 
a mere publicist, should be to uphold the edifice toppling 
through neglect, or misuse or misprision of terms or canons, 

l 2 



148 

and to retard at least, if they can not prevent its succumbing 
to unworthy fate, as in many instances is shewn in America, 
where abuse and absence of taste have deteriorated the 
language of Britain, although very many of our transat- 
lantic brethren, like Prescott and Longfellow, have rivalled 
their predecessors this side the watery main, in eloquence 
and poetry. 

But to revert to a phrase, "Most straitest of my sect," 
for very straitest ; here most straitest is not superlative. 

So in this passage, Of all the Emperors who preceded 
me, I Trajan was the mildest to my subjects, that is, was 
in comparison the mildest. He writes fairest of all. I like 
the least of any, means in comparison of any, or less than 
any. 

It is a canon in criticism not to use two words when one 
will suffice, if they be equally expressive; as, The assertions 
of that author are easier detected, that is with superior 
ease and proves that comparisons are used adverbially. 

"We adverted to the repetition of tob, meaning good in 
Hebrew, analogical with the Chinese ty or tai, which with 
them signify excess, and is similar to the ra of the Greeks, 
which repeated is superlative. They transferred its itera- 
tion to the sign of superlative. The plural of nouns in 
Chinese is formed by adding men, mueng, teng. 

In Persian the adjective adds terin as Khub,fair, Khub- 
ter, fairer, Khub-terin, fairest, resembling the Tzp, rtpog 
of Greek. 

The original Chinese language was hieroglyphic, which 
is the second stage in representative language, the mere 
and bare pictorial form taking precedence, of which the 
hieroglyphic is an abridgment. 

Every monosyllable began with a consonant, and might 
be expressed in 330 words, which were swelled by accent 
and intonation to about some 1300 vocables, each repre- 
senting 32 characters. 



149 

The Missionaries wrote that there are two spoken 
languages in China, almost unintelligible to each other. 
Others again aver that the language of this primeval 
people has remained unchanged for 40 centuries, while in 
Europe no tongue is older than 1000 years. 

The 214 elements or keys of Chinese are divided into 
17 strokes ; so if a word is to be sought in the dictionary 
it is traced to one of these numerical divisions, although 
the spoken language has not proceeded beyond the original 
meagre and inflexible monosyllable. 

This people cultivate the voice to excess, and have the 
primordial characters of a language, which stands in lieu 
of ah alphabet. 

They invented radical characters to represent the sounds 
prefixed and subjoined to words in popular use. The 
word Po conveys eleven distinct, unconnected ideas, ac- 
cording to the elevation or depressions of the voice, as we 
do in conjure and conjure, incense and incense, &c, and 
about 40,000 distinct characters are represented by some 
1300 monosyllabic sounds. The language of the literati 
is styled Haypian, and is comprised in 90,000 folio volumes, 
and he must be a Helluo librorum who can digest even a 
moderate quota. 

Their grammar is not less singular, and as I have ad- 
verted to that of the learned tongues, with that of the 
Oriental, also including Hebrew, I have digressed a little 
in this compendium on the almost unknown tongue in use 
by those who may be styled by us, what the Romans said 
of the Britons, " toto divisos orbe Chineses" — their lan- 
guage would seem to have more learning in it from the 
immense number of these characters. 

In elevated composition, the Chinese decline no noun, 
and conjugate no verb, and the same word serves for a 
noun, verb or adverb, the varieties of its meaning being 
indicated by its position. 

The personal pronouns arc Ngo, me ; Ni, thee j Ta, him ; 



150 

and these are converted into plural by annexing en or 
men. Page 87. 

And such is the primitive condition of their speech that 
one word is even used for noun, verb, preposition, adverb, 
and conjunction, and this is a primordial diction — many- 
words and usages in our tongue note also this primeval 
state as shewn under TO and DO. 

The only tenses of the verb necessary to be distinguished 
are the present, past, and future, and they partake of 
the aoristic or indefinite forms, as the three tenses in the 
learned tongues which denote time absolute, while the 
other nine tenses in Greek and Latin denote time definitely 
under its respective distinctions. 

Let me add a remark of Hermes, despite the dozen 
tenses of which he speaks. He says it fares with tenses 
as with other affections of speech, be the language on the 
whole ever so perfect, much must be left in defiance of all 
analogy to the harsh laws of mere authority and chance. 

All conjugations are effected by auxiliary verbs, the 
letter y forming the third person of the future in Hebrew 
and Arabic, and the Chinese ta which is he or him, and 
resembles the Latin sum, es, est — amo, as, at. 

The Chinese genitive case is distinguished by the par- 
ticle ty and tchy, as Gin-ti of mankind, this looks like de y 
of in Latin, and wonderful analogies and radices have 
been detected between Sanskrit, Latin, Greek, and Eng- 
lish, as well as occasional affinities in Chinese. 

The dative case is marked by the particle yu and y 
which precede the substantive but are often omitted. 

The Greek ablative is omitted, and perhaps derives from 
the Chinese for 2vv Gcq, is equivalent to the Chinese 
dative governed by the preposition. This may decide 
whether the Greeks had an ablative, but it does not 
seem to require one, as the genitive and dative were good 
substitutes. The vocative and ablative in Chinese like the 
genitive are formed by particles, and to add to the gram- 



151 

matical peculiarities, like our own, no adjectives are varied. 
There are no variations in form, such as are made by con- 
jugation and declension in the learned tongues, but by 
position their character and uses vary. 

There is a work to which the name of Crestomathy 
(xpyvrog, useful) is given, whereby the Chinese tongue may 
be fully acquired through dialogues and extracts from the 
literature which extends over 2300 years consecutively. 
The Yi King is the oldest production, and it is written on 
general philosophy as taught by Fohi, or Noah, B.C. 1766, 
in the Shang dynasty. 

As much has been said, and much must be said in 
treatises on language, it is just to advert to the nature of 
analogy, for all figures of speech are reducible to it, and 
indeed so may all human science be reduced to analogy, 
which is a resemblance in certain particulars, and in 
philosophy a certain relation and agreement between several 
things which differ in others. I believe it is admitted by 
all philosophers that the Treatise on Analogy by Dr. Butler 
is a masterpiece of the application of this mode of reason- 
ing, for he does not only base Scripture truths on analogy 
as the fittest proof, but he avails himself of this expedient, 
as the most perfect method of reasoning, whereby objec- 
tions and controversies regarding other truths which have 
other evidence, may be rebutted. 

The greater disparity between things compared the 
weaker are analogical arguments, as in comparing body 
and mind. The resemblance between sensations is physi- 
cal, but between perceptions the resemblance is moral — 
the first an equality, the second an identity, so that physi- 
cal resemblance is to the senses what analogy is to the 
understanding. The sum and substance however of all 
reasoning is only addition and subtraction, while the four 
philosophical causes are the efficient, formal, material and 
final ; an ancient division in perfect keeping with a system, 
which held a soul of the world as the prime mover of 



152 

efficient causes. Causation is a subject on which there is 
discrepance between past and present philosophers, but 
which Mr. Baden Powell thought might be discovered, 
and that the physical or vital principle of life would be 
known as the principle of respiration or the circulation of 
the blood, a connection between life and the simplest me- 
chanical or chemical laws, all being a component part of 
the vast chain of physical causation, whose strength lies in 
universal continuity. 

Miscellaneous Matter. 

In the course of this philological and grammatical mis- 
cellany several examples and notices on words or language 
have been omitted, which may suitably be introduced 
here, without clogging the order or affecting the symmetry 
of the chapters. 

Occasional repetitions may occur for which some apology 
is due, but if they tend to instruction, or generate ideas, 
or serve to utility, extenuation may be pleaded. An im- 
portant or isolated fact is sometimes better seen and 
appreciated than when it is comprised or enveloped in 
heterogeneous matter, coming under the generic term v\rj, 
silva, or wood, for even letters and syllables, words and 
propositions were so styled. 

The Stoics held every thing that was out of their power, 
as life, death, &c. to be v\rj, or materials of virtue or 
moral goodness, and Ben Jonson calls his discoveries on 
men and matter Timber. 

I do not think it impertinent to say that the subject of 
this Tractate has occupied some years of labour, and if 
therefore there be speculations, let them so remain in 
bondage, till truth can set them free, and their real worth 
be estimated, but I hope there is no position laid down 
that can not be established. I will not say I defy criti- 
cism, which is a standard of judging well, but I do not 



153 

deprecate it ; and if I am not invulnerable any more than 
my neighbours, I trust there is little to which objections 
can be substantially raised, and that all my assertions and 
principles have reasonable or plausible ground for credit. 
But let the work be tested by true grammarians and not 
by mere routiners fresh from Colleges, who consider all 
chargeable with heretical pravity who deviate from the 
wonted or prescribed track. Why it is this very deviation 
which directs us to valuable novelties, and shews how time 
and analysis convert current trifles into bullion. 

To me labor ipse Voluptas, as I feel that the power of 
exercising the faculties of the mind is among the best 
gifts of heaven. Learning is to the intellectual what love 
is to the sensitive, the sun of the human heart without 
which it is joyless and arid ; still the most intellectual feel 
that la main oVoeuvre, the operative power is often want- 
ing ; but every one must take nature on the terms it is 
given him, and be content to do his best, and each do well 
in his degree without desponding, and have a care in his 
own person not to reinforce the observation, that half of 
human life is past in giving ourselves wounds, and the 
other half in trying to heal them ; men die for want of 
cheerfulness, as plants from want of light. Happy he, if in 
addition, his mind can cheerfully energise to thought, for 
felicity is a certain energy to which it imparts perfection, 
and as a morose spirit is an anomaly in Christianity, so 
should cheerfulness be the fittest hymn to the Creator. 

There is a very close junction between knowledge and 
felicity, obtainable by even moderate exertion, hence we 
see how man was born for employment. This may be 
even predicated of angels, some actively, some passively, 
(i for they also minister who only stand and wait." 

And so essential is occupation that malefactors con- 
fined in dungeons crave for employment, that they may 
not lose their reason, without which we are pictures or 
mere beasts. So that occupation is essential to prevent 



154 

the mind preying on itself, and man, the paragon of 
animals, becoming the cannibal of his own heart, body, and 
soul. This is that intellectual virtue which imports our 
duty to man, as religion imports our duty to God. 

With respect to literature, if allowance be made for the 
taste of different ages, the want of variety of expression 
or metrical necessity, we shall have more to admire than 
to censure in our classical authors. It would not be 
difficult to prove that sundry errors are attributable to 
inattention or the press, for who can suppose that any one 
would attempt to write without an extensive knowledge of 
his matricular tongue, especially the English, the simplest 
of languages and the least subject to inflection. There is 
no doubt much in the standard grammars of our vernacu- 
lar tongue which will not bear the test of genuine criti- 
cism, and had elementary writers considered their subject 
with due attention they had not involved themselves or 
readers in confusion or doubt. 

Although English is one of the most copious languages, 
comprising some 80,000 words, yet it were a pity that 
any should become obsolete, as occasions may be found 
for their use, and the riches of our vocabulary be sustained, 
for there are very nice distinctions in words, as Calumny 
is a true libel, and slander a false libel. Many most 
effective words have lapsed into desuetude, and very many 
are of curious extraction, as Coke says of copyholds, 
"though meanly descended they come of an ancient house." 

Having made copious collections of derivations during 
my lingual pursuits I have not deemed it irrelevant to 
introduce some as an appropriate pendant to this Tractate. 

I will premise with a remark that in the time of King 
Henry VIII. one grammar (Lily) was the standard for 
all England, which was taught in all our seminaries to 
prevent loss to the student if he changed his school, which 
grammar has its excellencies for all elementary purposes. 

But grammarians are usurpers like other tyrants, for all 



155 

construction depends on custom — when once a language 
is established it can not be sensibly altered without danger 
to the community of letters. Words may fall into desue- 
tude to make room for others according to the caprice of 
mankind, but a radical or even appreciable change of 
language is a serious consideration, and I think we may 
add pronunciation too, which if too distorted would render 
a new orthography expedient. 

The question so often agitated whether it be not more 
philosophical as well as convenient to reduce all written 
orthographies into exact union with the oral tongues 
resolves itself into another much more easy to be answered. 
For were a fixed consecrated standard of language to bow 
compliantly to capricious innovations in a tongue exposed 
to daily adulteration, it would soon cease to be a determi- 
nate language, and letters instead of operating as a check 
on the evil would so greatly facilitate its progress that an 
existing age would require the help of grammar and dic- 
tionary to understand the records of our immediate pre- 
decessors. 

But grammarians should explain what grammar is and 
what it might be incidentally, for language is enveloped 
in profound obscurity and so altered since the world was 
one speech and their words few, that all the researches of 
the learned and curious after a parent language seem 
fruitless and abortive. Yet there is a greater approxima- 
tion to identity of tongue, and the sources whence our 
language is derived by the close analysis of Celtic and 
Sanskrit made by many foreign etymological philologues, 
the results of which have added considerably to our know- 
ledge of all European and Oriental tongues and dialects. 

We derive from the Celts, and they from Eastern sources. 
Now the Celts occupied all Europe, and came from the 
populous regions of the north, that, officina gentium, which 
people had first emigrated from Asia, the original seat of 
human habitation. 



156 

The word Kelt seems to have been a generic term for 
all European people from the north to Sclavonia, and in 
it we recognise Galli, Galatse, Gallicia, Gallo-grsecia, Gaul, 
Gael and Wales, by no violent transformation. The word 
Britain is of some etymological dubiety, and may be 
detected in Brutti, Prussi — Po-russi — which latter proper 
name is doubtless another form of Roxolani — Russi, the 
double s being equivalent to x. 

Perhaps one of the most difficult efforts of philology is 
to give a satisfactory definition. It is either too long or 
too loose. The author of Almce matres remarks that a 
definition is a sort of mental mince pie, which besides the 
common ingredients must have proper seasoning, and be 
compounded in a compact edible and digestible form. 

Some of the definitions of our great lexicographer, (and 
had Scaliger lived to witness the Dictionary production 
he had never considered lexicography the lowest abyss of 
literary misery,) have yet the appearance of enigmas — defi- 
nitions by rotular process, ignotum per ignotius, resembling 
the occasional superfetation of nature, which is strangled 
with her waste fertility. 

It is proper to mark the figurative application of a popular 
term for the benefit even of a native ; the correspondent 
term for a foreigner is best sought in his own tongue. 

There are many and diffusive definitions in this Dic- 
tionary by Dr. Johnson, distinctions without differences, 
and some dozen or more employed on the word nothing, a 
word of which it is not true to say ex nihilo nihil fit, and 
on which the celebrated Rochester wrote a poem, which 
Dr. Johnson avers is the strongest of his muse ; and as the 
Doctor's remarks comprise some verbal criticism I will 
transcribe a portion. — Nothing must be considered by 
having not only a negative but a positive signification, as 
I need not fear thieves. I have nothing, and nothing is a 
powerful protector, in which the word is used positively 
and negatively. 



157 

In one of Boileau's lines it was a question -whether he 
should use a rien faire or a ne rien faire, and the first was 
preferred because it gave rien a sort of positive sense. 

Nothing can be a subject only in its positive sense, and 
such a sense is given in the first line — " Nothing ; thou 
elder brother even to shade." But though the two senses, 
positive and negative, are generally preserved, they are 
occasionally blended. A French author, one Passerat, has 
also written on this barren topic, and he confounds the two 
senses worse than Rochester in a Latin poem of seventy 
hexameter verses. 

Dr. Johnson's Dictionary, in which is discerned wild 
blunders and a few risible absurdities, is stigmatised by 
H. Tooke, being as much the language of Hottentots as 
English ; and he adds, if the Spectator of Addison were 
translated into the Doctors phraseology it would not be 
intelligible. It is said, had the Doctor lived to publish 
another edition of his Dictionary that he would have 
adopted many of the etyma of his rival who wrote the 
Diversions of Purley, a work which has also been severely 
handled hy critics, and one censurer perhaps hyper critically, 
Mr. "Wedgwood, absolutely denies him a tittle of praise in 
his work on curious English Etymologies. 

Fame in writers is like a theory in philosophy, only good 
and pertinent till it is upset by another, and that again, 
clearly open to refutation, in its turn falls. 
Critics I saw that other names deface 
And fix their own with labour in their place, 
Their own like others soon their place resigned 
Or disappeared, and left the first behind. 

Pope's Temple of Fame. 
Dr. Johnson was aware of its infirmities, and pathetically 
closes his admirable preface thus. — "When it is found that 
much is omitted let it not be forgotten that much is per- 
formed—compiled without favour from the great, amidst 
inconvenience and distraction, in sickness and sorrow — I 



158 

therefore dismiss it with frigid tranquillity, having little to 
fear or hope from censure or from praise. 

All ingenuous critics, however, admit it to be one of the 
most stupendous literary accomplishments of a single man. 
ei Pelion on Ossa noble words to pile." 

I shall now advert to some words of peculiar import and 
use, and will shew their varieties, to be followed or eschewed 
as taste or necessity prevail. 

In modern parlance, the word cut figures in court and 
cottage, being rather energetic than elegant, and is used 
offensively as well as innocently — as cut a friend — a joke, 
figure, or appearance, when the substitutes make appearance, 
pass a joke or point one are preferable, and indicate collo- 
quial propriety. I believe the term cut is a nautical meta- 
phor, taken from cutting the rope of a boat. Horace 
Walpole, who succeeded late in life to family honours as 
Earl of Orford, and who loved a joke, and like Falstaff was 
witty himself and the cause of wit in others, was wont to say, 
time and claim giving him a title, that it was calling him 
names in his old age, and used to style cutting, shedding 
his friends — which is not an unapt metaphor from trees — 
and in it there is wit too, which is true reasoning, for Porson 
thought it truth and the first sense in the world, concurring 
with Pope, that true wit is reason to advantage dressed. 
The art of cutting was first exposed in a comedy publicly 
acted by the students of St. John's College, Cambridge, in 
1606, entitled, The return from Parnassus; but the term 
is modern if not the gracious act, which is to look an old 
friend in the face, and gratuitously wound his feelings by 
affecting not to know him, exemplifying the Christian 
precept — " Love one another." 

We employ the word catch, which when applied to a cold 
may be rendered more elegantly take cold ; and perhaps the 
vocable hang looks better if applied to any thing to be 
hung up, as linen hung up, than to a man hung, which 
should be rather a man is hanged. 



159 

Another curious household word is get, used in various 
ways, and although a long sentence may be couched in 
excellent English with this word in all its applications, it 
is better to vary it for elegance and strength. Aristarchus 
has these applications of it in this unique epistle : 

"Igot your letter, within ten minutes after I got shaved ; 
I got to Canterbury, where I got such a cold as I shall not 
get rid of. I got the secret of getting a memorial, but I 
could not get an answer, yet I got intelligence from the 
messenger that I should get one next morning. I got back 
to supper, and got to bed and then got to sleep. I have 
got nothing further to say." 

It may not be irrelevant here to add that the ancients 
wrote with great care. The history of Thucydides occupied 
thirty years of his life, which the famous Demosthenes 
transcribed eight times, in which however it has been re- 
marked there is more said than done. 

Virgil, dissatisfied with the iEneid on which he employed 
eleven years of his useful existence, Krrifxa eg ltd — like that 
of Thucydides, requested it should be destroyed after his 
death, according to Aulus Gellius, B. xvii. c. 10, and Pliny, 
L. viii. c. 30. A good genius however interposed, and saved 
the Latin epopee for a wondering posterity, verifying the ap- 
posite remark of Shakspere, that epitome of human wisdom, 
We ignorant of ourselves 
Beg often our own harms, which the wise powers 
Deny us for our good ; so find we profit 
By losing of our prayers. — Ant hong andCleopatra,\\. 1. 

Horace, whose writings are so high and lovely and care- 
less, says he composed his Odes " per plurimitm laborem" 
and he oracularly required a work to be under the anvil 
for nine long years ere it was published, which would not 
suit these rail-road times. This was the lima* labor rule, 
hence a published work was f actus ad unguem, which means 
a perfect composition, being a metaphor taken from passing 
the finger-nail over the superficies of statuary marble to 



160 

detect an abrasion. We are much indebted to metaphors, 
terms which throw gracefulness and lustre on discourse and 
composition, besides imparting illustration. 

Each eminent author has. an innate evidence in his style 
and execution. Milton was chaste, Rochester profligate, 
Dryden strong, Swift coarse and occasionally loathsome to a 
degree, and perhaps he has offended modesty even more 
than Martial, though in a different form ; Pope is polished, 
Addison is the Raphael of easy writers, while Walpole is 
agile and loquacious; Johnson though lofty is stiff and 
sturdy — reading his Rambler is like moving in a waggon ; 
Hume is acute and replete with careless beauties ; Gibbon's 
writing is gorgeous as a pageant, and his conversations were 
like the procession of a Roman ovation, exhibiting pomp, 
power and riches at every step; while Cobbetthas an English 
growl, yet is master of a simple, sterling Saxon ; Byron is 
wayward and misanthropic, and his poetical contemporary 
Shelley is as fanciful as Pindar ; Scott is delineative and 
Coleridge philosophical ; Dugald Stewart neglected style for 
matter, being very metaphysical and logical. In France 
every writer has appeared from the original Voltaire, the 
magic of whose style has never been surpassed, to the trans- 
lations of Madame Dacier, the famed daughter of Tanaquil 
Eaber, also a distinguished litter aire. The name of this lady 
has been justly raised to a high standard, who conjointly 
with her husband Dacier, astonished Europe with their just 
version of Homer. The marriage of these literary celebrities 
c has been styled the union of Latin and Greek. In a world 
whose characteristic is endless variety we observe that great 
mental power, like longevity, is often hereditary. It is 
found in the families of Scaliger, pere et fils, Buxtorf, Gro- 
novius, Vossius, Heinsius, and Disraeli, &c. These worthies 
being the aristocracy of intellect, which is true nobility, 
Whose derivation is from ancestors, 
Which stood equivalent to mighty kings. 
They deserve honour, if the real genuine claim to honour 



161 

be virtue and public service, and this can be the only true 
unadulterated origin of nobility, superior to accident or 
custom— men whose business has been freely to investigate 
man, and expound the secret of nature's laws, for nature is 
the domain of liberty. 

There is in all ' languages a great tendency to shorten 
pronunciation in cursory discourse, especially by peasants 
and artisans, and the use of this figure of speech is styled 
syncope, which has contributed to corrupt language, so 
that etymologists have been almost nonplussed by it. Cor- 
ruption is busiest with words most in use, which is natural, 
for communication of ideas comes first, and then this 
communication with the utmost despatch ; words of hourly 
occurrence, household words, contract into something less, 
and two or more vocables occasionally blend and incorporate 
into one, as don't, can't, cum multis aliis. So I shall cite 
some proper names. Anstruther into Anster; Arbuthnot, 
Arnot; Auchinleck in Scotland to Affleck; Brighthelm- 
stone, Brighton ; Barnadiston, Barnston, Bramstom ; Bene- 
dict, Bennet ; Cirencester, Cicester ; Cholmondely, Chum- 
ley ; Charteris, Charters ; Daventry, Daintry ; Glammis, 
Glamms ; Rutherglen, Euglen ; Utoxeter, Utcheter ; 
Wemys, Weyms; Win dleshore, Windsor; Wyrardisbury, 
Wraysbury. In Greek and Latin the same disposition pre- 
vailed — from Demetrius came Dama ; Menidorus, Menas ; 
and Theodorus formed Theudas. 

In passing to a few flying etymologies, some of which I 
have taken from i( Notes and Queries/' I preface them by 
these glowing lines of Virgil, of which 1 venture a translation. 
"Ferte citi flammas, date vela, impellite remos 

Infclix Dido." 
Quick, snatch the brands, set sail, impetuous row, 
Lost, lost Eliza. 

Ay means fear, hence ag-ue is a shivering fit. 

Aye expresses action, agere, and is used for time; as 

M 



162 

non-age, dotage, wharfage, breakage, pontage. The com- 
mercial word agio, is from agium, agere, a charge or deduc- 
tion ; ate is variation of action, hence atory, &c. 

Albion. The etymology has been variously given. I 
add that of Dr. Meyer, who derives it from Alani, whose 
God was alw ; the island uov being added, hence Alw-ion, 
Albion by an easy transition. The JEdui had also a God ; 
Aed, don, Eiddyn, from which Eding-burgh may derive; 
while Briton may be deduced from their God Bryd or 
Pryd-ynys, Prydain, Great Britain — but of this word there 
is no end of fanciful etymologies. See page 156. 

Art in German means kind, slug-gard, cow-ard. 

Aye may be the initial syllable of <e-ternitas; atwv, 
se-vum, the digamma interposed j aiv, aiva, aye, ever, and 
aon is Hebrew for strength, and Mat the Arabic for life, 
state, &c, in which the termination as in seternitas may 
be found. Does not the termination express every absolute 
and relative category of Aristotle ? 

Bacon derives from bucon, beech mast, with which 
swine are fattened. Leaves of beech in which linen was 
soaked in a solution of wood ashes, buck ashes, buck basket. 

Barbecue, means from head to tail. Barbe and cu, meat 
barbecued, is done whole — an holocaust or entire sacrifice. 

Bear, Bruin, derives from pero, pir-inn. 

Bear. This word is of large significance and extension, 
found in bore, bear, birth, brat, bairn, for children because 
borne. " That such a barne was borne in Bethlem's city." 
— P. Ploughman. Berth, board, burden — for sea room. 

Beignets aux pommes, apple fritters, and so called because 
bathed in hot melted butter. Beignets souffles were in- 
vented by nuns, who blew on them through a tube, like 
omelette soufflee. This last word comes from animellae, 
the sweat bread in a hog. 

Belfry is belfredus, in French beffroi, turris bellifera. 

Believe. We have before remarked, page 120, about 



163 

the prefixes a and b. This word means to live by, or abide 
by, direct life by. Hence it comes to mean think, judge, 
give credit to, and was written leve — be-leve. Be gives what 
are called neuter verbs an active sense, as gan, go, be-gan. 

Be-ware, is by-ware, be- cause, by-cause, sit causa. Black 
is be-lack, block, be-lock. Brim, be-rim. Ge is another 
particle prefixed to words, and generally has a collective 
sense, ge-denken. Ge is turned into be in ge-ond, beyond. 

Bombast answers to the French ampoule, turgid, bom- 
bastic ; ampulla, a flask metaphorically. So this is a meta- 
phor from the Latin word Bombyx, a silk worm, bombicis, 
bombazine, any thing stuffed out. 

Boudin, pudding, is the Latin botellus, which means a 
small sausage. 

Bread making is very old, and the Hebrews called it 
behem, the Greeks aprog, and the Gauls and Celts bar, 
hence, bar-ley. Buckwheat is called sarrasin in France. 
Sweat bread is pancreas, ris de veau, wag Kokag. 

Bridegroom, brauti-gam, Guma, man, Man-sin, man eid- 
oath, man-sworn or perjury. The word wer (fir) was used 
by the Saxons for man, and it resembles vir in Latin, which 
is aor in Celtic and Scythian. The Scythians call the 
Amazons Oiorpata, man-slayers. — Herod. Melpomene, c. 1 10. 

Brindis, Spanish, and far brindisi in Italian, means 
drink a health; and may be from bring dirs in German; 
but it is as doubtful as the word Carouse, which is thought 
to be a corruption of gar-ous — quite out. 

Bubula. Bouilli in French boiled, pronounced boui, the 
liquid // being melted away. 

Bugle and Bvfle is bubulus, buculus, buirculus, bos, 
tovg, ox — worshipped in Egypt as the type of agriculture. 

Bidled or boiled is only once used in the Bible ; but it 
finds a place in Chaucer, and it means bolged or bulge — 
swollen, and means in full seed, full blown ; " And hang 
the bulled nosegays 'bove their heads." — Sad Shepherd, 
Act 1, sc. 2. 

fil 2 



164 

Butter is supposed to be of modern invention. Beurre, 
butyrus, the general agent in culinary mysteries, like onion. 
"It is every coofs opinion, nothing's savoury without 
onion." Butter was styled the oil of milk (See Pliny II. 41) . 
The Jews called it Chameah, or pinguedo lactis — oil of 
milk. 

Can, canne, canst. "Alle gentlemens chyldren beth 
ytaught for to speke frensche fro the tyme that thei beth 
rokked in their cradel and kunneth speke and play." — John 
de Trevisa. This shews that can comes from kennen to 
know, cunning. 

Canard, French for duck and for a hoax, is derived from 
Xnv, duck, pronounced cane. Mallard and duck are canard 
and cane in French. N^o-o-a, from veoj to swim, means 
duck, from it comes anas. Gos, gandra, goose, gander, 
and anetrekho, enterich, antrech, is the origin of our word 
drake. 

Caviare, the roe of the sturgeon, known to the Romans 
under the word garum, which is its origin, and it is one of 
the indispensable seasonings of Turkish pilau or pilaf. 
" 'Twas caviare to the general/ 5 — Hamlet. 

Charavari,is a contraction of Che arie varie ? a compound 
of odd varieties. — The French Punch. 

Char cutier, usually applied to a pork butcher, is derived 
from chair, flesh, caro. 

Cheese is deduced from case or form. Caseus, casa, the 
figure in which this concretion of milk is made. Frommage, 
its French and Italian name, is only the word form ; and 
Grotius says, Forma formaginem vocat. It was known to 
the Hebrews and styled Sheboth, 2 Sam. xvii. 19; and in 
Job, x. 10. Ghebinah, which word answers to gibbosus, 
and Sheboth to eminens, round or pyramidal shape. 

Chief is caput, as mis-chief, ker-chief, which is a con- 
traction of cover for the head. 

Churl. This word derives from Ceorl or Churls, who 



165 

held land in villenage, contradistinguished from Eorl, Earl. 
Cotsela a cottarii were cottagers, theoves or serfs. In old 
Saxon theowas, servants. 

Claret, is claretum, clear, a liquor composed of wine and 
honey clarified by decoction or boiling ; styled also Hippo- 
eras, vinum Hippocratis. 

Cleave, cleofan, cleave, split ; Clifian, cleave, adhere. Page 
125. 

Coffin, derives from ko^ivoq, which means basket, cited 
in the New Testament under the miracle of the 12 baskets. 
Cook. It is said the origin of Cook is unknown, and has 
been the torment of etymologists, and is not mentioned in 
the Diversions of Purley, that rich repository of philological 
lore, but like the sources of the father of plenty, Nilus' 
stream, that majestic flood which feeds the Egyptian sands, 
the etymon is doubtful or yet enveloped in obscurity. In 
Rome there was a Coquinum forum, where cooks were to 
be hired. 

Corner. Kantle, cant, canton, cantonments, corners of 
land ; soldiers go into cantonments. Canton in heraldry 
means a corner. 

Cowardice is derived from Culverteyne. Dove is derived 
from Columba, Culufre. 

Curmudgeon, a word at which Dr. Johnson " tried his 
prenticed hand," and made nothing of it, which is a con- 
traction of care-much-ane, too much care. 

Cushion, written quisson, is derived from cuisse, a rest 
for the thigh. 

Dinner, Diner, has been derived from de ccenare, or from 
desinere, desist from eating; as dejeuner. 

Dout, do out, do up, dup, do on, don, doff, douse, do 
out in nautical dialect, douse the glimms, put out the light. 
Tuer la chandelle. See To and Do. 

Doom or dom, is judgments, kingdom; Rcgnum ubi 
Rex jus aut scntcntiam dicit. Thum in German, wis-dom. 



166 

Domesday hook is the book of the house, domus. The 
ancient Britons had their Brawd-Lyfe, or Domesday-book, 
wherein their laws and statutes were recorded, since quite 
lost, compiled by order of their Prince Howel Dda, Howel 
the Good, circa 940, a. d. 

Drum is deduced from dreman, jubilare, de and hrem, an, 
clam are. 

Earth derives from ere, ear. In Sanscrit Dhar, terra. 
Eld, palsied eld, eld, yld, is human being. 
Ell is synonymous with arm ; ell, a measure, and ell- 
bow. Ell, ind, ette, oon ; ball, balloon, salle, salloon. 

Endeavour derives from ende haben, have a motive or 
end. 

Enormous means ex norma, out of law ; while abnormis 
is without any standard at all; abnormis sapiens, wise 
without instruction. 

Er is to advance, and may be found in re, as, ama-re ; 
which means also res or thing, reality. The letter R is 
often transposed, as sceptre, nitre; and in iron, always 
pronounced turn and never i-ron ; apron, saffron, citron, 
and even children and hundred partake of this pronuncia- 
tion. In fact it is very common in English to transpose 
the letter r, as brent, burnt ; brast, burst ; Thorpe, Thrope ; 
Bird, bryd ; curdle, cruddle ; gers, gras ; kers, kress ; whence 
the phrase not worth a cress, as it should be, not curse. 

Er is a common termination in English, er, or, doctor, 
spinster, baker, cutler, &c. ; eur, our, or, as am-or, sail-or ; 
en and ed are not distinguishable, melted, molten, which 
gets into t, mixt, spilt ; and id again into morbid. Huliwr, 
pronounced hillier, tiler a slater ; children is a double 
plural of er and en. 

Eye means islets, isle, eyt, isles ; Guerns-ey, Orkn-ey, 
and is the Norse for isle. 

Fear is to fare, see page 118 ; feran to go, fly, fahren. 
Fari to speak; hence fatum, a thing said or fate — "and 



167 

what I will is fate." — Milton. Fate is like chance, direction 
which we can not see. 

Freundj freundin, friend ; fuchs, fiichs-in, hence vixen, 
the female of a fox, fox, fyxen. 

Furlough, permission of leave, lauben, lough, leave, ver- 
lough. 

Ght, brohte, brought, bringen. G is interchangeable 
with w, as ward, guard, guichet, wicket, guile, wile, guise, 
wise, Gaul, Walloon, Guarth, Warwick, and Rurrick. 

Haberdashery berd dash ; tache, loop, or neckloth for the 
beard. The ha is thought to be only a the article attached 
to the noun, as the is occasionally, as in t'accomplish. 

Hackney, a horse, is said to be derived from the village 
near London, but Shakspere uses the phrase for an im- 
pure woman ; and it applies to anything hired, as hackney 
horse, author, maid, &c. Some think our word nag is 
found in the ney, and that hack implies a half gelding horse. 

Hag is not German or Anglo-Saxon, but a Druidical 
Celtic root. Hag and hac means serpent. 

Hac-pen, head of the serpent at Stonehenge, which is 
Stone-hang, one stone hanging on the other without cement, 
as close as the stones of the Pyramid between which a pen- 
knife can scarce be inserted. The Serpent or Python was 
the oracular agent of divination, and a sorceress is styled a 
hag. The compound word hagworm is not obsolete, and 
into such snakes does Milton transform Satan and his 
infernal crew : 

" He would have spoke, 

But hiss for hiss returned with forked tongue 
To forked tongue, for now were all transformed 
Alike to Serpents all, as accessories 
To his bold riot."— Par, Lost, x. v. 517. 

Harry, harass, hergian, heeren, to waste. 

Hearse is the ornamental part of a funeral, and hurst, a 



168 

place ornamented with trees; hyrstan to adorn, Chisle- 
hurst, &c. 

Henchman is not an uncommon patronymic, and is the 
same as haunch-man, or one used for a servant who wore 
a cutlass — derivable from coustill, coutille, coste, cote. 
The name of Cotterell is the same. 

Hoche-pot, a dish, and also a clause introduced into set- 
tlements, &c. by lawyers, all implying a mixture, a sort of 
ollapodrida, Spanish, which latter is pot-pourri, olla putrida. 
This is derived from hoc her, to shake, and it originates in the 
reiterated shaking of a vessel by the cook's hand to prevent 
the adhesion of its contents, or any undue stagnation. 

Hus, haus, huys, huissier, userfa, vessier, ursers, uisers. 
Hus came into huis, entrance of a door, so huissier, and 
our word usher. Parler au Suisse or Suivre have nothing 
to do with the porter of a gate, but it means speak to the 
usher or conductor. 

Id is the same as ed, morbid ; ad and ade is heap, arc- 
ade, canon-ade, bastinade, repetition of beating. 

Ism is equivalent to g, and y is copia or abundance. G, 
Y, W, are interchangeable in northern dialects ; morgen is 
morrow, sorge, sorrow, talg, tallow. 

Kid is the young of man or beast. Cid means shoot in 
Saxon. Kidde, kith, kin, kennan, hence kindle. The word 
deer, now applied to one animal, is only the generic name 
thier, deor, beast. 

Lease means glean, lesan, lisan, hence lease contract ; let, 
lassan, laisser. 

Leasing, lies, seek after lesynges — " with his chere and 
his lesynges." — Chaucer. Leasunge, lying. 

Let means little, a hamlet, home, rivulet, a diminutive. 

Lief, leof, lufian to love ; " I had as lief not be, as live 
to be in awe." — J. Casar. Shakspere. 

Loan. The modern system or tenancy seems to have had 
its rise in leases for life, or the shorter periods called lse-an, 



169 

loan ; in the freemen, the free occupants of the lse-an, land, 
types of our present free labourers and tenantry, as in the 
Thanes of Marks and Lords of Hundreds, one form of that 
English rural gentry which struggled for existence with the 
Norman power, and partially survived. The word Used, 
re-leased, means else, als ; how else, what else, this and all 
else ; alessen, to loosen. 

Lobster is the distortion of locusta, locust, a crustaceous 
fish of as great research among Gourmand and Gourmets, 
as John Dory supposed to be a corruption of janitore or 
poisson de Pierre ; some call it Jaune Dore, Auratus Zeus, 
and it had the reputation of bearing the palm of delicacy 
even over the turbot. 

Luncheon, is corruption of noon cheon, a repast taken at 
noon. 

Marshal, mearh, horse, scale, schalk, rogue, like knabe 
— boy or knave. Our night mare is connected with this 
word mearh, mare. 

Mass. The origin of the word has been disputed. Ite, 
missa est. Go, the commission is sent to heaven ; or the 
people are dismissed. Csetus dimittur, church is over. It 
bears the name of mass in English, messe in France, and 
missa in Spanish and Italian. 

Ment, from moneo, regi-men, monu-ment. Mony is the 
same in matri-mony and ali-mony. 

Mercy derives from merx, merces, a merchant. Mercy 
means subject to a tax, hence amerce, whilst remission of 
merx or tax is mercy. " Virtutis gloria merces/' the family 
motto of the author of this work, where merces means re- 
ward. 

Mis in Latin answers to me in French ; mistake, me- 
prendre, me-content. 

Mustard, called by the ancients sinapi ; fc fletum factura 
sinapi/' tear-eliciting mustard. There is a curious deriva- 
tion assigned to mustard from old French, moult me tardc, 
I long ardently ; multum ardct is its theme. 



170 

Nectarine is a bastard peach, persicum malum ; while 
apricot is malus aprica, as being a tenant of a sunny wall, 
which apricus means. The French say a I'abri, that which 
is out of the sun, or under cover, under a helmet, from 
hullen to cover. The word espalier is a wall exposed to 
the meridian sun ; palum a prop for vines. 

Nemo is non-nemo — supposed to be nemo or homo. 
To look for an impossibility, the Romans said jocosely — 
Nodum in scirpo quserere, to find a knot in a bulrush ; and 
one of our poets not less jocosely writes, 

See gudgeons graze on grass. 

Page, pagan, paynim, pagina, a square of land, all from 
pagus a village; pagare to pay, meant originally, field 
service. 

Palus meant formerly a spade, and being set upright, it 
came to mean a pale. Pale in heraldry means arms divided 
by a pale, as those of husband and wife. Quarterings are 
a congeries of arms brought in by heiresses only ; in some 
families there are more than 1000 quarterings, as in the 
Duke of Buckingham. 

Palladium and Pallas may be Palet or Phalet, which 
indicates escape. Beth Phalet is the Booth or house of 
Phalet ; according to Lycophron the Palladium was not a 
Grecian Deity, but was borrowed from Palestine, and 
Cassandra calls Ulysses the stealer of the Phoenician god- 
dess; " icXw7ra ^oLVLKtigOeag"' — Cassandra, v. 658. Pallas 
was worshipped at Corinth as a Phoenician goddess, says 
Tzetzes, the scoliast of Lycophron. 

Parricide. This word in Latin is derived from par and 
csedo, not pater ; and duid is for dem to kill, to do — hence 
tuer in French. See under Do and To. " Si quis hemonem 
leiberum sciens duid, parricidad estod." Twelve Tables, 
which were adopted by Rome from Greece about 450 b.c, 
and which became the foundation or as great an adjunct 
to the Roman laws, as the Greek language was to the 
Roman speech. 






171 

Plagiarist is of singular import, implying a slave abduc- 
ted for the purpose of sale, hence metaphorically, theft ; 
nXayiog means oblique, and the Greeks called their cases 
7r\ayiog, oblique. 

Poach is derived from poche, pocket, the yoke of the egg 
being inclosed in the albumen or white, as if in a pocket or 
poke ; oeuf en chemise, pig in a pocket, or poke or bag. 

Poach, game, is only to put it in a bag. 

Porridge is derived from porrus a leek, with which 
porridge was flavoured. 

Queen, cwen queen-bee, queen-fowl, coinne and quean is 
woman in Norse ; is a corruption of konigin from king, 
which is thought to be from ken to see, kennen to know, 
and may be identical with the Chinese gyn, which means 
king and man. The word quean is the same as queen used 
in a bad sense ; could ywrj be the feminine of gyn ? 

Quilt is only the Latin culcita, and means anything 
stuffed with feathers, a cushion. 

Re means reverse, as re-tract, retro-active to undo, while 
ER means advance. It is symbolical of motion either way. 
Page 166. 

Reek means steam, reechy, steamy kisses. — Shakspere. 

Revenue is re-venir, and is mispronounced reven' r -nue, 
Shakspere says in metre, Who no revenue has : but that 
does not justify this pronunciation in prose ; if so, what is 
to become of parvenu, avenue, and retinue ? Mr. Pitt first 
set this affected example in the House of Commons. 
Rob, reave, rauben, be-reafian. 

Sad means settled ; a sad stone says WiclifF, is a set 
stone. " The sadness of your bileve," means, the steadfast- 
ness of your belief, ssed, seated. Secede is sine cedo, as 
sedulo, sincerely, is sine dolo, and securus, sine cura. 
Scold, bescylding, schelden. 

Ship is hood or head, and means kind or species ; ship, 
shop, shape ; kind means substance, and person means 



172 

kind in the Athanasian creed ; kin-lamb, kin — and tude 
means kind, altitude, which is breadth and depth also. 

Shrowd, wrapping for the dead, and also for vessels, de- 
rives from scrud, meaning clothing. 

Skate, the fish, is a corruption of squattina, hence squat, 
the natural position of this and similar fish, lying flat at 
the bottom of the sea ; plat, flat, platitude, a dull flat ex- 
pression. 

Sleight should be written slight, from schlichten to slight, 
or throw away ; hence slay, sly, sleyed silk, a weaver's slay, 
sleight of hand; as "The rogues slighted me into the 
river." — Shakspere. Height should be written hight from 
high, also, Milton wrote it heighth. 

Smattering, comes from smack, taste. Syr op, sherbet, 
shrub, from the Arabic sib. 

Soare, a three-year-old deer; sorrel. 
Some, sum, means quantity, in opposition to none, from 
so; see page 128. 

Spinach comes from Spain, epinard. This olus resembles 
a thorn, or the head of an arrow. 

Tellan to tell, told, tale, to sell by tale or numeration, 
and not by weight, but by telling ; to tell off soldiers, 
means to number off. Toll, thol, tituli fiscales, hence the 
German Zoll, Zollverein, union in one toll or tax. 

Truffle, a fungus which grows underground in subterra- 
neous cradles. A few crevices in the tophus, or sandy 
ground, are the only indications, and through them the per- 
fume of the truffle betrays the secret to animals schooled 
to hunt for them, as dogs and pigs. The origin of the word 
is subter topho, from which the Italians made tertuffo, 
tertuffalo, truffle. 

Vavasor, a title next in dignity below a Baron, the same 
as Vaywode. The word varo means man, as Baron and 
femme, man and wife in law. Baron, tear eKoxrjv pre-emi- 
nently a man, hence a Peer. 



173 

Yeoman j yeman, gemein, common ; y is frequently su- 
perseded by g, as yate, gate. 

Wall-nut is Walsh-nut. Wala means foreign in Old 
Saxon. They called all foreigners Wall or Welsh, es- 
pecially French and Italian. Wall-fahrt, foreign journey, 
pilgrimage. Bryd Walena, Welshman, or Briton. 

Whilk, quhilk, ilk, means like. The Scotch say of that 
ilk, meaning of that same place and name. 

Witena-g emote. Parliament or meet of the wits. 

World. Ur denotes origin. We-or-uld is contracted 
into world. Rum is land, hence room. 

Wormwood, were-muth, which is mood, hence courage. 

Worship, weord-shippe, means virtue, or manhood. 
Please your Worship — with my body I thee worship, or do 
reverence. 

Wassaile. Waes heal hlaford cyning, be of health Lord 
King. 

These etymologies may be unimportant, but they are 
curious, and I remember a remark, that there is no con- 
tribution to knowledge which is not also a contribution to 
civilization, to progress, to religion, and to all for which 
we ought to hope and pray. 

The Romans have a saying, Nullam mentem animi habet, 
— he is an idiot, presuming he had no mind's eye — for the 
eyes give light to the body, and are said to be u fenestra? 
animse," windows of the soul; sight, that most pure spirit 
of sense, the only one of all the senses which requires no 
apparent contact. Now all the senses are mere modifica- 
tions of touch, an illustration of which is to be found in 
Dr. Collier's excellent translation of Aristotle's treatise, 

All the five senses are reducible to one — touch, which is 
common to all ; they are but modifications of this indispen- 
sable sense. It has a wider range of perception than any 
other, and is not restricted like other senses to a definite 



174 

organism, and one mode of impression. Touch is extended 
over all the body, and all senses are subsidiary to it, being 
superior to and more influential than the rest. Cuvier 
thought that man has the most perfect sense of touch of 
all the vertebrata, and it is either the origin of or coeval 
with animal existence, being a primal or elementary sense. 

Aristotle again thought touch was distinctive of animal 
in contrast with vegetable existence. It is the cause of 
appetite, as appetite is of motion, and it exists indepen- 
dently of the other senses. A rudder directing a vessel 
represents the stomach, which converts the ingesta into 
nourishment, and the sensibility which gives power to the 
stomach represents the hand which through the rudder 
directs the vessel. The latter is analogous to the body, 
which is nourished. 

Aristotle refused sensibility to the brain, because it did 
not impart sensation when touched. Democritus thought it 
the seat of sensibility, while Plato conceived the seat of 
the senses to be in the liver and heart, and did not concur 
with Aristotle, that the brain was continuous with the 
spinal cord, and to be the source of the intellectual facul- 
ties. But the Stagyrite was generally superior to Plato 
his master, and had this advantage more over, that his 
father was a physician, and Aristotle followed also that 
profession, which enabled him to infer that the vital prin- 
ciple exists innately in the body in what is termed logi- 
cally, 'potentiality, but which under genial circumstances 
is to be acted on and made a reality or hriXex^a- Thus 
the power which impels may itself be at rest. 

There seems to be a unity in all matter ; perhaps the 
number of colours may be reduced to unity, I have much 
faith in unity, and believe all things are reducible to it, 
which is simplicity (page 131). There is but one God, one 
trial, one tribunal, one salvation, and but one wisdom, all 
else is but error of various degrees and divers colours. 



175 

Physically speaking the seven primordial rays of light and 
colour are reduced to the red, which are heating, and the 
violet, which are chemical rays, may not these be reduced 
to unity ? 

Language has been always chosen as the healthiest 
vehicle for training, at least at some Universities, and in 
grammar is implied logic. The Greeks did not go to any 
dead language, and so concentrated their minds on less 
than we do ; they progressed from grammar to logic, which 
is the mathematics of language. They were bent on 
philosophy, which is the gymnastics of the mind, and they 
knew that to define a subject is to enumerate the ideas, 
which constitutes its nominal essence. As the ideas which 
constitute the nominal essence of many subjects are too 
numerous to admit detail, philologers have abbreviated the 
descriptions by comprehending a multitude of ideas under 
general and specific terms. 

The force of a term being proportionate to the number 
of ideas for which it is the constituted symbol, it is obvious 
that the progress of power is from the genus to the indi- 
vidual ; in other words, the ideas contained in the gen as 
are fewer than the species, and fewer in the species than 
in the individual. 

A creature possessed of blood, veins, heart, lungs, and 
locomotive powers, with particulars necessary to animal life 
is denominated an animal, which philologers make a genus 
or general term in their definitions. 

An animal clad in feathers, and capable of exercising its 
locomotive powers above the surface of the earth is termed 
a bird, which philologers make a genus or general term in 
their definitions. 

A bird of superior magnitude, variegated plumage, and 
fond of solitude is denominated an eagle, and possesses all 
the ideas affixed to a bird, and so of an animal, and contains 
more ideas than the genus animal. 



176 

Genus implies a continuous series of individuals, having 
a like species of form, so that the genus may be predicated 
of a man, so long as there is continuous generation of 
human beings. 

Species implies the mode of being of the individual 
together with the essence, and as the matter constitutive 
of the genus is in the species, so species may be regarded 
as part of the genus. 

The two terms, essentially logical, are potentiality, and 
entelechy, and imply, the former the innate hidden power 
of any thing; as seed of fruit, and egg of life ; the latter, is 
reality, matter is potentiality, and species is reality. The 
quintessence or fifth essence implies the sap and marrow. 

Arguments are termed, a priori, and, a posteriori — the 
former from cause to effect, the latterly conversely, from 
effect to cause — they are distinguished by the terms syn- 
thesis and analysis, the doing and the undoing. In fact, 
the whole art of logical demonstration consists in proceed- 
ing from identical proposition to identical proposition till 
we come to the conclusion, and logic uses certain subsidi- 
ary aids for this end, in the ten categories, according to the 
emergence, temporal, local, positive, and habitual category 
of Aristotle, for it is through them that premises signify- 
either individual, quantity or quality. 

The ancients generally were materialists, and thought 
matter eternal, but whether they went so far as Bishop 
Berkeley who undertook to prove there was no such thing 
as matter I do not remember. Perhaps it did not occur to 
them that our senses can not prove the existence of matter, 
because our sensations have no resemblance with their 
causes, and it is impossible to conceive any thing like the 
sensations of our minds, but the sensations of other minds. 
We have but a belief of the existence of matter, a belief 
inseparable from the constitution of our nature, so we can 
not doubt, if we would. 



177 

Sensation implies present existence, memory its past. 
The first principles of every thing are given us by nature, 
and are of equal authority with the faculty itself, which is 
also the gift of nature. The conclusions of reason are all 
built upon first principles, and can have no other founda- 
tion — and these first principles must be granted — our 
sensations and our thoughts suggest the notion of a mind, 
and a belief of its existence and of its relations to our 
thoughts. 

The mind can not be rendered more capacious by genus 
and species, because they constitute an uncertain division 
of unknown objects. 

We have remarked (page 14) that Harris in his Hermes 
avers that the article in Greek always precedes the subject, 
and that the subject when transposed becomes the predicate. 
This is not so, for one is the whole, the other only a part. 
It has also been injudiciously declared that the genus in- 
cludes the species, and that every word is significant by itself, 
says H. Tooke, and yet he remarks that the article supplies 
the place of words which are not in our language. Page 8 1 . 

Subject and predicate are sometimes inverted, but the 
predicate is not the converse of the proposition by such 
inversion, unless Hermes would stagger the stout Stagy- 
rite, who subverts that doctrine, for it is not true in a 
definition by genus. Ex.: Every dog is an animal, but 
the converse is not true. It is not true in a definition by 
species, as every hawk is a bird, but the terms are not 
convertible, for every bird is not a hawk. 

Neither is it true in a definition of an individual, as 
Westminster Abbey is a venerable structure, but such a 
structure by necessity of nature is not Westminster 
Abbey. 

It is not true in a definition by nominal essence, to 
prove which take Plato's definition of a man, an animal 

N 



178 

with two legs without feathers; the rebuff of Diogenes 
perhaps disconcerted the sublime philosopher when he 
plucked a bird, and said, Behold Plato's man. 

1. The genus animal is included in the dog, therefore 
dog is more known than animal. 

2. The terms of the second definition are not conver- 
tible, for the species bird is included in the hawk, there- 
fore, hawk is more known than bird. 

3. In a definition by nominal essence the converse is 
not true, for it is impossible to enumerate any particular 
with that precision which will justify an inversion of 
terms. 

Lord Monboddo advocated the opinion that the genus 
includes the species, which is no more so than another 
curious conceit he is said to have maintained with 
gravity, that men were born with tails. 

Opinions are sometimes so deeply struck into the mind 
that prejudice overlaps intelligence, and the mind of which 
reason is the light, like the feeble eye, the more light 
thrown on it the more it contracts. 

The fact is there is nothing but individuals in the world. 
Genus and species exist not really ; they are nothing but 
human classifications. A general proposition has no real 
existence ; it is only a phantasm, for philosophers have in- 
vented terms to express general ideas which have no real 
existence. 

The assertions are proved by Aristotle, one among the 
prodigies of genius, nature's minion, who largely benefited 
mankind by disseminating philosophy, for he wrote on 
every subject with a matchless accuracy and skill, so that 
posterity knows not which most to admire, the penetration 
or extent of his mind, which embraced the whole orb of 
existence. Voltaire and many others have thought that 
Newton was the largest minded man that ever existed, and 



179 

some have deemed Plato to be the omnis homo, but the 
Stagyrite has transmitted works on every subject — logic, 
poetry, ethics, natural history, astronomy, and metaphysics 
with equal strength and precision. Who therefore can be 
placed in competition with this son of science ? He had 
genius and talent, those donatives of nature, the former 
being more internal, possessing the power of invention, the 
latter more external and capable of execution. 

One of the efforts of Aristotle was to demonstrate that 
ens and bonum are one and the same thing — Ato koXuq 
cnr£(j)r)vavTO r'ayaQov, ov iravra icpiirai. The good is that 
which all desire ; and moral evil, of all God's permissive 
works, the more we know the less we profit. Page 131. 

Ergo ens est bonum, unum est ens, unum est bonum — 
so every thing centres in unity, and unity in the good ; 
there is one God, one law, one matter: and this taught 
Aristotle, that there is more difference between something 
and nothing than between something and any definite 
number whatever. 

The first cause is not being, but is the author of being 
— for being is a creation. 

The first cause is superessential, not a being, but above 
all being, for being implies externality or something deri- 
vate. Existence according to the ancients implied essence, 
and the ideal world was deemed superessential. 

Much has been said about the \6yog of Plato (see Cory's 
Ancient Fragments), but the word used by him and St. 
John has two very distinct significations. By one reason 
in general is implied, whereas the Evangelist uses it as a 
translation of the word dbr, signifying a thing or person 
revealed, and if at all in the sense of reason, not for reason 
in general, but for the particular faculty so called. Dr. 
Morgan refuted this error, which some fathers of the church 
originated. Patristic philosophy and theology arc often of 

N 2 



180 

very doubtful acceptation, which some churches and people 
have found but a broken reed. 

There is no foundation that Plato held or was conversant 
with the word or the doctrine of the trinity, for nothing but 
revelation could impart this mysterium Jidei. Their trinity- 
was a triad subordinate to a monad, the etherial intellec- 
tual principle of the universe. And Aristotle had his 
trinity in the beginning, middle, and end, which include 
the enumeration of every thing, and fulfil the numbers of 
the triad. This trinity he finds also in nature, habit, and 
reason, the good and contemplative, so becoming by these 
three things. 

From vague traditions twisted to and fro arose those 
fantastic notions of metaphysics among the ancients, which 
were attempted to be reconciled in the third century of 
grace by Ammonius Saccus ; a Christian philosopher who 
opened a school at Alexandria, and received Origen, one of 
the most learned of the Fathers, and Plotinus, whose 
writings were collected by Porphyry for scholars ; and from 
this attempt sprung the eclectic school of Platonists, who 
kept paganism alive until the schools were imperatively 
closed by Justinian ; when those philosophers retired to 
realise their shadowy dreams under Chosroes, and diffuse 
the oracles of Zoroaster and the famous Hermetic books, to 
make confusion worse confounded, by contracting rather 
than enlarging the circles of virtue and wisdom. 



V 



181 



On Language. 

The soil under our feet does not make a country, bat 
identity of language, religion and laws; great inequality 
exists in all these three essentials in every region of the 
globe ; but we are forced to admit them, as we receive 
temporal government, which rests on a compromise of in- 
terests and abstract rights. 

The mutability of letters in figure and power and the 
use to which they have been applied constitutes a singular 
fact in human exigence. Some letters are mere symbols, 
and some have been adopted for purposes of sound in variety 
of depth, strength, or harmony. 

Some letters are uselessly introduced and almost choke 
pronunciation and scandalise orthography, while in the 
lapse of time and voluminous writing, letters like soldiers 
are apt to desert and drop off in a long march. The change 
that may be run on letters, words, and sentences are almost 
infinite. Letters have certain significations, as A means 
motion, D completion, E energy, and so with the rest. 

Sounds preceded symbols, and were the progenitors of 
letters, which may have been used in the antediluvian ages, 
for we have no proof that writing was unknown before the 
flood, all the evidence of which may have been swept away 
in that tremendous cataclysm, the wreck of a world. 

The language of Noah was the pure fountain of all 
tongues subsequent to that event ; and although many are 
so disguised as apparently to baffle the reiterated attempts 
of philologists to shew similitude or establish consanguinity, 
yet some affinities of the primitive speech with existing 
languages arc confirmed, despite the fragments into which 
that speech was broken at the period of the confusion of 
tongues. 

The forms of every known alphabet may by an attentive 



182 

collation be traced into Sanskrit, and the Orientals have 
through all antiquity cherished the same opinion, calling 
it the writing of the Immortals. 

All language must be subjected to grammar, which as it 
is the art of levelling difficulties, the lever should not be 
heavier than the weight. Grammar must have followed 
quickly on the advance of civilisation, which extends the 
scale of necessaries, and especially on the art of writing, but 
at what period that wonderful invention arose philosophers 
are unable to state, for according to Josephus writing was 
not even known in Greece in the days of Homer, b.c 900, 
there being no alphabet in existence, and this would rather 
confirm the belief that all his poems like those of Ossian 
were committed to memory, and were recited as wandering 
ballads to wondering hearers. 

The first mention of Homer is thought to be in Simonides, 
the cotemporary and rival of Pindar, cited by Athenseus, 
and all the detached parts of his poems were popular stories 
in his time allusive to Greek mythology. It seems in- 
credible how Pisistratus could have collected these rhap- 
sodies some 500 years after the decease of their supposed 
author, for the fact of their authenticity would be obnoxious 
to the same remark that Dr. Johnson ventured about 
Ossian's poems, that writing was unknown in Scotland or 
Ireland in his time, and the poems were too long to be 
remembered. 

Prom the inequality of Homer's poems, the division of 
the Iliad into 24 books, containing some 15,683 verses, and 
his omitting to mention the pyramids or city of Memphis 
in Egypt, and the names of cities being cited which had no 
existence in his days, it might be thought and concluded 
that much was afterwards added to the Grecian ballads, 
and that the Epic or Epopcea was really fashioned into what 
we now find it by Pisistratus and the Athenian grammarians. 
Many have believed the Iliad and Odyssey not to have 



1S3 

been executed by one hand, and that the rhapsodists had 
the monopoly of the ballads, and sung them for hire and 
salary on public occasions, and prevented the circulation of 
written copies as detrimental to their singing or saying 
them at festivals with the usual accompaniment of voice, 
gesture, and harp. 

If language is a proof of civilisation the Greeks must 
have attained a very high condition of refinement in the 
days of the bard, for the honour of whose birth seven cities 
contended. It is remarkable that little alteration was made 
in the dialect of Homer from his epoch to that of Eusta- 
thius, his elaborate commentator, who died, a.d. 1190, 
some thirteen centuries after the demise of the bard of 
Scio's rocky isle, and the language was as unchanged as 
that of Hebrew when written by Moses as compared with 
Hebrew as written by Malachi after the lapse of 1100 
years according to the received computation, and how little 
Homer has suffered from transcribers. Marginal words 
have been interpolated as text, for what writings are wholly 
free from such sacrilegious audacity, like the famous version 
in 1 St. John, v. 7, " There be three which bear record in 
Heaven," &c, of which Porson wrote to prove the spu- 
riousness with almost unprecedented learning. 

The multiplication of copies made Homer as familiar to 
the Greeks of the age of Herodotus as the bard of Avon 
now with us, and yet great obstacles still remain in the 
almost hopeless possibility of distinguishing interpolations 
from the genuine text of Shakspere. 

It has been found that invaders of countries have bor- 
rowed more from the language of the country they ravaged 
than they lent it in return, and a mixed jargon has been 
formed of which the mother idiom still remained by far 
the predominating element. 

In mixed and corrupt tongues the changes of oral accent 
and inflection precede by a long interval any correspondent 



184 

change in the written orthography or acknowledged analo- 
gies of its grammar. 

But the fate of the Latin tongue was very different in 
its rise, continuance and perfection. Before the arrival of 
Eneas in Italy, if the story be not a very myth altogether, 
the aboriginal language was Oscan, a dialect of the Keltic. 
Barbarous it was enough, harsh and incomprehensive, but 
necessity soon forced the sojourners in the land to coin, 
bend, transmute, or adopt words for existing contingencies. 
This was a happy augury, hence the language improved, 
but a specimen of it in all the crudity of its native idiom 
was seen in the verses of the Salii, Oscan priests, who were 
wont to recite canticles which stimulated to war or impinged 
a sense of religion on the heart. 

In process of time lingual excrescencies dropped into 
contempt and were retrenched ; old grammar and diction 
became obsolete although uncouth words were retained. 
Many fell into desuetude and were supplanted by others 
with great success, about the age of Camillus. Neverthe- 
less Cicero declares he could not quite comprehend the 
meaning of many words and terms employed by his antique 
Roman ancestors. The language did not totally change, 
it was weeded and enriched, leaving the basis identical 
with the first structure, some words remaining nearly 
identical, as the word EL in Hebrew, which is God, being 
changed into Eloi. Dante cites this as an instance of the 
change which had taken place in the primeval language 
before the confusion of Babel. 

JEI s'appellava in terra il Summo Bene 

Eloi si' chiamo poi e cio conviene 

Che Puso de' mortali e come fronda 

In ramo che sen va, ed altra viene. — Paradiso XXVI. 

The Greeks civilised the Romans, for half the Italian 

peninsula was designated Magna Grecia, nor was it called 

Italia before the reign of Augustus Csesar. It appears 



185 

that the Greeks and Romans formerly were not very fa- 
miliar, as Italy was almost unknown to Herodotus and 
Thucydides. The natives, however, amalgamating with the 
foreigners became literary, and they soon grafted the ex- 
pressive tongue of Homer into their then defective speech, 
deriving from Greece the nucleus of their laws, and with 
them making improvements in their tongue ; which by the 
infusion of Doric and iEolic Greek, ripened into the diction 
of the 12 tables, imported some 449 b.c and that of the Du- 
ilian Column. This gave an impetus to their zeal for ame- 
lioration, and each year found them more familiar with the 
language of the invaders, a literary investment for them- 
selves, and a boundless resource of wisdom for posterity ; 
and its truth enabled them to discern the social benefit. 
Thus these two languages coalesced ; a spirit was infused, 
and it would seem that nearly all claim to polite language, 
except the raw material, was derived grceco fonte. Perhaps 
there is not more likeness between any two languages de- 
rivable from Latin, than between old Greek and Latin. 
This affinity was acquired by the intermixture of emigrants 
in part, and partly to a relationship in the primordial modes 
of speech; but it seems from some extant Etruscan or 
Oscan words, in which the vowels are emitted as in Hebrew 
and Arabic, that great verbal transitions are apparent, and 
here were gradually incorporated the beauty and vigour of 
the Greek dialect. 

Unfortunately the Greeks deemed all nations barbarians 
but themselves, and would apply to nothing but their own 
tongue, much less to the Pelasgic or Oscan, and ignorantly 
thought themselves avroxOoveg, and that their speech came 
by inspiration ; still they entertained no more solicitude or 
curiosity about its origin, or in fact about ethnography, 
than they evinced about the origin of evil, or the primitive 
stock of the human species, having no conception of their 
common derivation from that goodliest of men, " Adam, 
who was the son of God." 



186 

Even in later days their literati learned with reluctance 
the Latin tongue ; although it produced orators, poets and 
statesmen who might justly challenge comparison with 
their own. There is not an instance among the entire band 
of Greek litterateurs in any past time of a sage knowing any 
other than his own matricular tongue, although many 
orientals and foreigners acquired that of Greece. Rome 
felt its perfection, and of necessity applied to its cultivation. 
It extended with their arms and colonies, and never an- 
ticipating the decadence of their nationality, they trusted 
the Greek tongue would permeate the globe and become 
universal; and with reason did they hope, for time has 
shewn that their erudition and their success in eyerj branch 
of literature is still the admiration of this breathing world, 
and the very pith of sense. 

When the Romans found that intrepidity and skill en- 
abled them to war down their neighbours first, and that 
they were afterwards capable of subduing all circumjacent 
nations, they began to enter on a rivalry, and to raise 
themselves in literature to a level with their wise precep- 
tors, and to adopt a stiffneckedness in respect of other 
people, in which pride the lofty Greeks had set them a 
contagious example. So they would learn no foreign 
tongue but Greek, and by this omission we are mainly 
ignorant of the languages of those eras. What an advan- 
tage to all the learned of all times had any one erudite 
Greek or Roman like Yarro, who is said to have written 
500 volumes on curious and probably on most futile matters, 
explained aught of the Egyptian, Carthaginian, Oscan or 
Persian tongues, all within the reach of Rome through their 
colonies, their mercantile associations, or conquests. 

Had there been but one Mezzofanti (before whom Mi- 
thridates was nothing, and of whom Lord Byron said, he 
might have been interpreter at the Tower of Babel), to 
learn and record their indagations and discoveries in 
speech not unworthy their researches, how much more 



187 

easily had the analysis and synthesis of language been 
effected by us, who now know what close connexion exists 
between them, superseding the various conjectures on 
conjectures ventured by scholars and philosophers in wan- 
dering mazes lost. 

The great advance that we have made in philological 
studies enables us to detect etyma quite out of the ken, and 
inconceivable to the aucients, by which we not only ana- 
lyse their tongues, but solve their fables, assigning to them 
a moral or mythological significance. 

We have a little Celtic left, very few words of Persian 
and Egyptian, and still less of Oscan and Carthaginian, 
but which latter the perspicuity and perseverance of men 
have apparently unravelled from the disjointed text of 
Plautus as given us by Bochart and Sir Wm. Betham. 

Some have interpreted these fragments as modern Irish, 
while Bochart, a French Protestant, and the great philologer 
of his age, who died 1667, found a meaning in pure Hebrew 
out of the Carthaginian supposed to be Punic and Liby- 
phenician blended; but on comparing the Hebrew and 
Gaelic versions as rendered in our vernacular, the discre- 
pance is so great that but little identity remains. 

Different nations have preferred different methods of 
writing. The Chinese wrote from the top to the base of 
the column of a page. Some write upside down ; while the 
Greeks and Latins wrote from right to left as other oriental 
nations, or rather in the £ovotjoo0tjSov manner, resembling 
the furrows which an ox ploughs. It seems more natural 
to write from right to left, similar to drawing operations ; 
however they soon recognised the inconvenience of that 
method, and they finally wrote as all Europeans now write 
their repertories of wisdom. 

The Romans once had different symbols for letters, but 
these they wisely abandoned and adopted the Greek cha- 
racter of letter, which was converted into the Roman by 
various transformations. 



188 

The form of cyphers are certainly Sanskrit, and there 
is inductive reason to believe the whole globe was peopled 
from the progeny of one race ; yet the variety of tongues 
into which its population has been subdivided might seem 
to militate against this opinion. The astonishing coinci- 
dence in almost all languages of certain words of universal 
necessity, as terms of consanguinity, pronouns and numerals, 
establishes this conjecture. 

What the pronunciation of any dead tongue was, it is 
impossible to say, but conjecture and authority may de- 
cide, and to it nations may partially agree. Not two na- 
tions pronounce any dead tongue alike, and between the 
Homeric age and that of Theocritus and ApolloniusRhodius, 
the alphabet, orthography and pronunciation of the Greeks 
appear to have changed. 

It is rather a matter of curiosity, however, than ne- 
cessity. Quantity is of importance, although the modern 
Greeks dispense with this precision, and follow an accen- 
tuation, expressive of musical notes, which is thought to 
be as old as the days of Dionysius, who wrote, with great 
critical exactness, on the structure of his own language — 
Tlepi ^vvOtaewg ovofiaruyv, and a work on Rhetoric. 

There is as much discrepance about the true pronuncia- 
tion of Hebrew, as the other learned tongues, and the 
Jews of the North read the Pentateuch in a very different 
accent and key from their brethren in Judea ; and each 
polished nation pronounces the learned tongues precisely 
as if reading their own, hence no nation is correctly speak- 
ing right, though there may be a greater probability or 
approximation in some as to their acquisition of this hope- 
less achievement, aided by accents, which were introduced 
by Tzetzes, in the 11th century. 

Pronunciation is so delicate and pliable that there was 
probably no entire uniformity, for if the dialects of Greece 
evince what anomalies existed in speech at the distance of 
even a few leagues, a fortiori there must have existed 



189 

practically endless anomalies in sound. These very local 
varieties must have facilitated and accelerated change and 
instability, and have proved as effectual in realising dis- 
order in sounds, as the irruptions of barbarians from the 
populous regions of the north, the Goths, who were Ger- 
mans, and conquered Rome, and went under the generic 
name of Getse, and spoke a similar language to that found 
in the Ulphiline gospels. 

Of course, the two leading characteristics of language, 
sound and quantity, would be the first to be corrupted ; 
then followed the aspirates and the general grammatical 
structure, and at length a total dissolution of tongues so 
artful and complex as those of Italy and Greece. 

Each country has the effrontery to insist that it has the 
true pronunciation of these tongues, and modern Italians 
boast that they alone read correctly the writers of their 
predecessors. 

I cannot but believe in general that the Italians are 
truly more remote from that consummation, so much 
wished, than many other nations, if we judge of their 
sounds of ci and ce, &c. 

Should Quintilian be taken for arbiter, or what Plutarch 
has revealed on pronunciation, the modern Italians are as 
much to seek as their neighbours. Provincialisms 
abounded in Greece and Italy, so that neither Latin nor 
Greek could be said to be purely enunciated fifty miles 
from Rome or Athens, and to the four dialects of Greece, 
which were recognised and in currency, endless varieties 
were in use, and in Italy, where Greek was spoken, the 
tongue changed, as much as the Spanish of the European 
Peninsula, and the Spanish of America. 

Doric is a contraction of iEolic, and Attic is a contrac- 
tion of Ionic; see Herodotus, B. I.e. 142. rXwaaav St 
ov rrfv avrfjv ovroi vtvofitKCKTi, ciAXa rpowovc rtaaepac 
irapaytoyiuyv. 



190 

" The Ionian states have not all one and the same lan- 
guage, it divides into four different branches, and these 
again into endless varieties." 

Perhaps it is difficult to say whether vowels, liquids or 
consonants have given most trouble to ascertain their true 
powers ; aspirates, both vowel and consonant, were sub- 
ject to elision in Greek, and even the digamma was elided 
when necessity enforced the principle of " nee Deus in 
tersit nisi dignus vindice nodus." However, some sounds 
are really detected, and for some we must rely on analogy 
and verisimilitude. As in our own tongue, the vowels are 
all interchangeable, it is not impossible with them that 
many or one sound was assigned to the majority of their 
vowels or diphthongs. Besides they had the iEolic digamma, 
which as convenience or necessity impelled, was used for 
more than half the alphabet, one of whose peculiarities it 
was to impart an aspirate, and volumes have been composed 
about this mysterious adjunct to language. 

Mr. Payne Knight thought a copy of Homer could not 
be perfect until this mysterious digamma was restored to 
the text, and in his edition of those poems, it figures in all 
its plenitude and pride of place. 

The letter was used as a pure vowel, and sometimes as 
a pure aspirate, as well as for all metrical purposes, to 
prevent hiatus, which is a characteristic of most tongues, 
as eytofiai, iyw^a, &C. 

Time was when all the earth was of one speech, not 
even a dialect prevailed, and the words were few. " Behold 
the people is one, and they have all one lip or pronuncia- 
tion," and seeing the necessity for some sort of writing, 
and for accounts to fulfil agricultural purposes, to ascer- 
tain the numbers of flocks and herds, it is verisimilar that 
written language was in use before the Deluge, for if the 
Creator gave perfect speech to Adam and Eve, and they 
taught it to their children, who transmitted it to their 



191 

descendants, the fourteen plain letters of the alphabet 
may have been employed by the prediluvians as indis- 
pensable to the necessities of life, for these people being 
under the more immediate direction of Heaven, than 
savage tribes posterior to the Deluge, the inference is not 
to be repudiated, that they possessed the means of count- 
ing and recording. 

It has been averred with assurance that the Saxon 
a e l' 8 n — a, e, i, o, u, are perhaps the most ancient 
symbols in the world, which soon varied for distinction of 
sound, so that by degrees one sound became the echo of 
another, and these vowels may be styled the Pleiades of 
symbols. 

The world had been divided into three quarters, sever- 
ally peopled by Shem, Ham and Japhet, whose business 
must have necessitated the use of letters or numerals. It 
is said no oriental alphabets had vowels except Phoenician, 
and that had only two, aleph and ain, for even jod is not 
considered a vowel; the Greeks formed all the other 
vowels, and double vowels supplied the place of aspirates, 
as in Welsh ff, in Ffluellen, Ffloyd, &c. Hence vowels were 
arbitrarily extended by the aspirates and liquids, and were 
either long or short at the caprice of the author, as they 
are a part of a system wholly conventional, and the latest 
improvements of letters forming an artificial cement to 
all the interstices, and give mass and continuity to accu- 
mulative sounds, but they are not ligative sounds like 
consonants. Primitive letters are found in all alphabets, 
and the similitude of their forms may be identified by 
consulting any synoptical tables of alphabets. Where 
punctuation marks the place of the intermediate vowels, 
certain vocal sounds, which often form the radical or 
initial of words, require a complete geographical form as 
well as the consonants. They are like the consonants, 
letters of pictorial origin, and in Hebrew and in Sanskrit 



192 

it requires the aid of separate punctuation to assign to 
these letters any peculiar vowel function, and that punc- 
tuation determines the vowel. 

Letters are to pictures what speech is to sound, and 
alphabets were formed from graphic imitations. All vowels 
in Hebrew are consonants — page 6, Canon 3. 

Wilkins* Dictionary of Sanscrit remarks that the want 
of vowel-forms in language furnishes proof that the 
figures which were at first pictures, then verbal signs, and 
afterwards syllabic ones, become finally the marks of ar- 
ticulation or letters, and vowel points were invented to 
mark minuter distinctions. Till that time the consonant 
signs served to express the whole word. 

All the Saxon vowels, or symbols very like them, were 
in use, and are on the Sigean monument and Parian stone, 
and were engraven probably from the exact figures giving 
account of events much anterior to that epoch, therefore 
it is not to be rejected altogether that symbols were pre- 
diluvian; and it is a fallacy to maintain that Bp. Ulphilas, 
who lived only in the fourth century, invented Gothic letters, 
which strictly resembled the Greek. Nations have derived 
their literal symbols from a common source. The Gothic 
o appears on Egyptian relicks. Pausanias saw an inscrip- 
tion in primitive characters, Gothic, which were engraven 
in the time of the Greek Deucalion, whom Bryant thinks 
to be Noah, but some make cotemporary with Moses ; and 
the Arundelian marbles, which date from the same epoch 
some 1500 years anterior to our chronology, and must be 
coeval with the annals of time. 

The Eugubian tables, so called from their being found 
at Gubbio near Cortona in Italy, consisting of eight brass 
tablets, are commonly ascribed to a date of 247 years before 
Hesiod, who lived 900 b.c, and are thought to be Pelasgic or 
Oscan, and though not prediluvian, of an early epoch after 
that cataclysm. Gibbon, V. viii., thinks the savage dialect 



193 

gii them to be old Latin or Oscan, which was derived from 
the migratory Tyrrheni of Lydia mentioned by Herodotus, 
who said that he was amazed to hear the tones of the 
Pelasgic tongue at the city of Crestona, a town of Thrace, 
which differed so little from the tones of Attica, confessing 
that the Athenians were formerly Pelasgians. In the tenth 
century, b.c, these Athenians had the oriental guttural in 
their speech indicating a descent from Sais in Egypt, hence 
it may be inferred that the oldest specimen of the Eolic, 
Doric, and Ionian approached nearer to the Eastern tongues 
than the earliest specimen preserved in Hesiod or in bards 
of the Homeric age. With this very infusion of Doric and 
Eolic Greek the Latin tongue improved into the style of 
the twelve or decemviral tables, written some 450 B.C., 
serving as beacon rocks in the ocean of time. 

Polybius, B. III. c. 3, alleges that the ancient books of 
the Roman kings, written 754 b.c or at the foundation 
of the future empire of the world, were unintelligible, and 
that all fragments found on pillars were so too, almost 
including the Duilian pillar, 260 b.c The Decemvirs 
travelled into Greece to copy these laws, and with them 
they brought the nucleus of the ten arts and seven sciences, 
all translated into the current Latin of the day. Greek 
was in vogue and currency in Italia, and what enabled them 
to grammaticise their diction was the grammar published 
by Aristotle, mentioned in his Poetics ; moreover the 
Latins went to consult the oracles at Delphi, and eventually 
to Athens to be educated and to promote the moral disci- 
pline of the mind. 

Herodotus seems to have acquired some Persian words, 
for he pretended to explicate the recondite meanings of the 
ceremonies and the great mysteries, averring that the eight 
great gods were not Greek but Coptic or Egyptian. In 
his 5th Book, Terpsichore, he says, the Phoenicians were 
the companions of Cadmus (or as the Hebrew orthography 



194 

is of Moses, the Cadmonite or Phoenix which is the same) , 
and introduced letters into Pelasgic Greece, &c. He then 
quotes some lines he read in Cadmean letters as old as the 
age of Laius, grandson of Cadmus, inscribed on a tripod 
consecrated in a temple at Thebes. 

On the tomb of Alcmene a brazen tablet was found on 
which letters were disclosed of an iE-coptie or ^Egyp- 
tian character. In the opinion of Cnuphis, an Egyptian, 
they retained the form and use under King Proteus, 
said by ethnic writers to be the Pharaoh of Moses, for 
information on which subject we may consult the Demon 
of Socrates by Plutarch, as explained by Bochart in his 
learned work styled Phaleg. Cadmus or some immigrants 
settled in Thebes some half century after Cecrops who led a 
colony from Sais to Attica, so that Diodorus, Book V. says, 
the Philistines or Phoenicians taught letters to Greece 
through a colony which sailed thither with Cadmus, with 
whom were Arabians and Erythreans or Edomites. By the 
annals of Tyre teste Josepho, according to Newton's Chro- 
nology, Cadmus fled from Zidon, about the sixteenth year of 
David's reign, with his sister Europa; while Hales in his 
Chronology traces the era of Cadmus on the Arundelian 
marbles, and copies of the Cadmean letters have been pre- 
sented to the eye of learned curiosity, as well as the Pelasgic, 
Etruscan, and Sigean monuments with ancient Punic and 
the earliest Hebrew. It is asserted by Diodorus, Book III., 
that Linus and Orpheus wrote their poems in this Pelasgic 
character. On the Etrurian coins and monuments the 
words are the rudest specimens of Pelasgic and old Latin, 
and the letters are specimens of the rudest Greek. \ i 

Dionysius Halicarn. Book IV. c. 26, speaking of a pillar 
to be seen in the temple of Diana at Borne with an inscrip- 
tion in ancient Greek characters, tends to show that the 
founders of "Rome were not barbarians, for had they so 
been, they had never employed Greek characters. This is 



195 

no small weight in proof that the Romans were grceco fonte, 
because no nation is supposed to have written its language 
in foreign symbols except the Jews in their captivity. 
Still some nations have changed, for the ancient Persian 
was written in cuneiform, and now it is wrote in Arabian 
characters. It is worth while to consult a dissertation by 
Spelman at the end of Book IV. of his Dionysius' transla- 
tion. 

The story of Cadmus may be a myth altogether, but he 
is said to have arrived in Greece, according to the Parian 
marbles, 310 years before the fall of Troy, and 23 years 
before Moses led the Israelites from Egypt, and that the 
letters were identical with the Ionian- characters Herodotus 
attests in Terpsichore, c. 58. ^ 

Bryant observes, to pass a proper judgment on the 
Grecian histories we must use them collectively as a rich 
mine, wherein the ore lies deep, mixed with earth and 
other base concretions, which we should sift and separate, 
and by refining to disengage it, and then what a fund of 
riches is to be obtained. 
v_/Perhaps it may not be irrelevant in inquiry about the 
origin of language, to advert also to the names of those 
ancient people, who either spoke languages analogous to 
those now in use, or from which very many undoubted 
vocables may be deduced. 

The word German has taken several phases, it is said to 
be true — Ger = verus. It appears again in Caraman, which 
may be the cognomen of German, albeit some think German 
to be a political rather than an ethnological term. 

Italians are styled Welsh — does that imply affinity to 
Gaul or Wales, or foreign, Wala, p. 173. The Gauls went 
south of Germany to Italy, and called Lombardy Welsh and 
Italian Welshcrs. We find the same names in Gaul, Walsh, 
Welsh, Wals Brabant and Walsh Blaenderen or Flanders. 
The great service that Dr. Prichard has rendered to 

o 2 



196 

philology and ethnography consists in his shewing that the 
Celtic languages are Indo-European, styled also Indo- 
Germanic, extending from Indus to the Rhine. 

I here give a citation from Strabo, Book VII. c. 2, relative 
to the word German. Fv{]<tlol yap ol Tepfiavol Kara rrjv 
Ftopmwv SioXektov. The Romans have very appositely 
applied to them the name Germani, as signifying genuine, for 
in the Latin language Germani signifies genuine, wherein it 
is presumed that Strabo meant the Ger implied verus or 
genuine, the wahr of modern Germans, and that Germani 
signifies the true men of the country, the undoubted 
avroxQovEQ of Galatia or Gaul. 

It has been suggested by Welsford that Ger is identical 
with the yar of the Hebrew, meaning wood, woodmen. 
The Indian philosophers were divided into Brachmans and 
Germans, the latter being dwellers in woods. Such and 
so many etyma are found or applied, much of which may 
be dubiety, although not all stigmatised as stark phrensy. 
It is a source of infinite pleasure to the etymologist to find 
probabilities even, and language would lose much of its 
attraction, if this propensity were arrested. 

It was proposed by Boileau to review all the polite writers 
and to correct such impurities as were found, that their 
authority might not contribute at any distant time to the 
depravation of language. Should this be carried out on 
imaginary etymologies, which occasionally approximate to 
truth, considerable havoc would be made in the derivations 
of places as well as words, though it might keep reason a 
constant guard on imagination. 

Again the word Teuton has been of very extensive appli- 
cation, whether as to the appellative of Germans, or to those 
who dwelt near Germany, which country is called Deutsch- 
land. Now dlut means people, and its use is found no 
earlier than the 9th century. In Moeso-gothic thiu-disko 
means WvikCoq = Wvog, nation-thiuda. Hence the Ger- 






197 

man dlot populus. In Anglo-Saxon heod means heathen, 
d is th. 

The Germans of Germany are Deutsch, the Rhenish 
Germans are Alemannic or Frankic. It is said however 
that these two vocables, Deutsch and Teuton, are not iden- 
tical. 

Who were the Cimbri, if not Cimmerians, Cumri, Cam- 
brian Welshmen ? This name is recognised in the Cini- 
brian Chersonese and Crim Tartary, Crimea, supposed to 
be descendants of Gomer. Modern ethnography knits all 
these together and assimilates them with Celts, Goths, Getse, 
et id genus omne, and groups them with Greeks and Latins, 
all deriving from Sanskrit and of eastern descent. (Page 4.) 

The Iberians agaiD are a Spanish colony from the east 
which settled in that part of Europe inhabited by the Celts, 
hence Keltiberians, who spake the same tongue as the men 
of Gaul. 

The Celts migrated and became intrusive in Spain and 
Italy, and the Latin tongue is a refined Celtic, intermixed 
with iEolic-Greek. 

On analysis there seem to be affinities between all these 
nations either by name or speech, for the Sabines were 
Gaelic rather than the British, which fact a collection of 
military, political, and religious words seems to strengthen, 
independent of the identity of the numerals. (Page 5.) 

Distance of time and space and a plurality of circum- 
stances have so modified the Celtic languages, that they 
appeared diverse like the Gaelic of Wales and Scotland and 
Armorica or Brittany. In the south of Italy the language 
was superseded or swallowed up by the Greek, and the 
natives driven northwards, who adopted the Latin which 
was supposed to be of no great account anterior to CamMus' 
days, B.C. 400. Subsequently the Sabine and the Celtic 
amalgamated with the yEolic Greek, and produced the 
language of Cicero and other Latin stars of the first mag- 
nitude. , 



198 

I have said I had seen a very probable derivation of 
Prussia from Britain. (Page 162.) The euphonious word 
Cruitneach is interpreted Picts in Irish, which is a kind 
of generic name, as German means Deutsch. It has been 
resolved into Pruth-neach, Pruthenians, Prussians. Brit, 
Welsh, Land; Lud, leod, means folk, and Lud-gate, 
folks-gate, porta populi. (Page 196.) 

Javan was certainly the progenitor of all the western 
world, and he spake the language of his father Japhet, so 
if affinity exists between the languages of the east and 
west, it is because all these tongues derive originally from 
Shem and Japhet, sons of Noah, who spoke purely the 
Adamic speech, subsequently modified by time and circum- 
stance, such as the confusion at Babel; probably however 
the basis of all languages were left alike, discrepancies 
arising from fortuitous events and tendency to change, 
for a pleasing variety is discernible throughout the whole 
visible creation. 

I have made a digressive attempt to recapitulate what is 
admitted relative to the condition of languages and the 
names of countries which are affined and kin, so I pass to 
some brief and succinct observations on the power of letters 
or symbols, rather to revive remarks than to proffer what has 
not been before the public on coins or in treatises. 

It is not my intention or pretension to dive below the 
depths of my predecessors in this path of literature, but 
merely to unite in one focus what I have observed and 
treasured, with a latent hope that it may be at once a profit 
to some, as it has been an entertainment to myself. 



199 

On the Power or Literal Symbols. 
Vowels and Diphthongs. 

It is a remark of P. Knight, in his analytical essay on 
the Greek alphabet, that none of the ancient oriental 
alphabets had any vowels, except the Phenician, and that 
had properly only two, Aleph and Ain> About this re- 
mark there is some donbt. 

In Plutarch's Symposiacs, ix. Quest. 2. 3. He asks 
what is the reason that Alpha is placed first in the alpha- 
bet, and what is the proportion between the number of 
vowels and semi- vowels ? The answer was, it is fit the 
vowels should be set before the mutes and semi-vowels, 
and that of vowels the short one should have precedence 
of the long vowels, and that a placed after iorw will not 
be pronounced, and will not make one syllable with them ; 
but if i and u are placed after a they are obedient, and 
quietly join in one syllable, as in the words avptov, avkuv, 
&c. because it is both long and short. 

He then adverts to Cadmus styling A an Ox, as an Ox 
is among the most necessary things in life, so A should 
take precedence in vowels. He further adds that the 
first articulate sound that is made is a, for the air in the 
mouth is formed and fashioned by the motion of the lips, 
and the sound is emitted plain and simple, not depending 
on the motion of the tongue, but is gently breathed forth 
while that is still. Therefore that is the first sound that 
children make, as ahiv to hear, a^eiv to sing. Thus all 
the mutes besides one, have a joined with them, as it 
were a light to assist their blindness for wt alone wants it. 
<pt and yl are only wl and Kcnnra with an aspirate. Again, 
it was said that Mercury was the first God that discovered 
letters in Egypt, and therefore the Egyptians made the 
figure of Ibis, a bird dedicated to Mercury, for the first 
letter. lie proceeded to say, among all the numbers, that 
the 4 th is peculiarly dedicated to Mercury, because he 



200 

was born on a 4th day, and the first letters called 
Phoenician from Cadmus are 4 x 4=16. Subsequently 
Palamedes found 4, and Simonides 4 more. During this 
reasoning one Lopyrion sneered and hissed, and said all 
this was egregious trifling, and that it was no design but 
mere chance as to the order of the letters, as much as it 
was that the first and last verses of Homer's Iliad should 
have as many syllables as the first and last of the Odyssey. 

A, considered the first vowel as the most open 5 simplest 
and easiest to pronounce, has also the power of a conso- 
nant, and the distinction of vowel and consonant is a mere 
grammatical fiction, (p. 6.) All the vowels in Hebrew 
are consonants, and consonants become liquids which are 
akin to vowels, as 1, m, n, r, and in some languages they are 
in the category of vowels. Vowels like numbers must have 
some one from which to start. All vowels are naturally 
short, but as words extend into many syllables, vowels 
become both long and short arbitrarily, and so they must 
have been before music was invented, if that delight of 
the sense, for Ci cantus permulcet sensum/' is not as old as 
speech itself. Different kinds of a were subsequently 
invented for long or short time, like a a, so with e and o, 
having varieties to indicate metre, but which began in the 
necessity of subjecting syllables and vowels to metrical 
regularity. 

A is styled the first vowel, but it is not, being a diph- 
thong, at least in form, and composed of o and i, and has 
relation and affinity with the other vowels ; a had probably 
the broad sound a a as in pater, which may have been 
drawled into o as our what is pronounced whot. Now the 
Latin mater derives from foyrrjjO, and the Greeks from whom 
the Latins have borrowed so much, pronounced rj like a, and 
the Latins may also have sounded mater, milter, and not 
ma-ter. I believe it was Porson who said that in dissyl- 
lables all short syllables were pronounced long, always pro- 
nouncing pater, though short, as if long. 



201 

This a went into e as ago, egi. So does onr a go into 
e in Thames, Quay, many. Their a went into o as sparta, 
sportum. So does our a. Again, it went into u, as 
camera, cumera. If this first of vowels be susceptible of 
all these vocal emissions, it can not be proved that a did 
not in either of the learned tongues assume these sounds, 
and was as mutable as our own first letter, though generally 
pronounced broad, for Dionysius asserts that a was 
emitted avoiyfitvov arofiaTOQ lir\ tt\zlgtov, which means 
with a very full open mouth, The symbol a means 
motive. The Phoenicians called a Cow, Alpha, which 
the author of the Analysis of Ancient Mythology, thought 
had direct relation to the ark and to the sacred steer 
of Egypt branded with a crescent, to whom sacrifices were 
made as emblematical of Noah, the avOpw-irog yijg or 
husbandman, and the father of mankind. 

E is again incertse potestatis. It is a diphthong like a, 
and is composed of a and i. 

In Homer the loss of the digamma is supplied by the 
epsilon being transposed into tj, and in Pelasgic, Mr. 
Knight says it was fashioned like 8, as was H. 

It was in quantity, both long and short, until r\ made 
the difference clear. Eustathius avers that €fj the bleating 
of sheep was a criterion for the sound of rj, like bete in 
French. But was it baa or ba? if the latter it would col- 
lide with the first letter of the alphabet a, Ainsworth, 
the lexicographer, an excellent authority in general, thinks 
1) was emitted like ei ; it had a mutual intercourse with 
the sister vowels, running insensibly into them, as reor, 
ratus, hcri, here — Sibi, scbc, quasi, quase — Yearn for viam, 
Deana for Diana, &c. 

If it were pronounced like ei, which is equivalent to i 
by foreigners, viz. e e } how far removed are all continental 
nations from its true power, sounding it as our a. 

It came also into o as vestrum, vostrum — tcgo, toga, 
Xtyw, \6yog. It passed also into a as pcrccllo, perculi, 



202 

dui for die, lucu for luce. Hence like our e it had 
various tones and sounds, and there is much doubt as to 
its true value. It may also have had the sound of our 
word male, mail, &c. This letter was once written ei, 
and pronounced ee, hence it was a diphthong, which Lanzi 
confirms, who copied his authority from the Sigean monu- 
ment, whose era is fixed 600 B.C., about coeval with the 
Eugubian tables, if much reliance can be put on any con- 
jecture relative to Chronology. 

To lengthen this vowel H was invented; it is not a 
distinct vowel — for it is the Phoenician Heth, and is not 
inscribed on the first Sigean monuments, on which e only 
is found in common with the vulgar letters. The Phoeni- 
cians brought them to Syria, and on analysis they prove to 
be almost all of them only transcripts of the Hebrew. 

If u on the monument stands for H, then is H as old 
as E, but probably it was only so written and pronounced 
ee when not gutturalised. This H is inscribed on the said 
stone where the writing is from right to left ; see Athe- 
nseus, B 9. c. 12. H is only two epsilons turned face to 
face like E3 the Phoenician Heth. 

It was used for an aspirate as Ho, tarty, for 6 Icttlv. 

Plutarch,* Vol. IX. says, that there are seven letters in 
the alphabet rendering perfect sounds of themselves, as in 
the heavens there are seven stars or planets, moved by their 
own motion. That e is from the beginning the second in the 
order of vowels, and the sun of the planets second or next 
to the moon, and that the Greeks repute Apollo to be the 
same with the sun. Hence « on the temple is a convey- 
ance or form of prayer to the God, all implying If — if you 
shall marry, &c, and that this word has no less a pre- 
catory than an interrogatory power. Shakspere observes, 

" Your if is your only peace maker, much virtue in if" 

As you Like it. 

Plato says, (i Heretofore we did not use tj but e, which 

* Tubingen Ed. 1798. 



203 

confirms Plutarch's remarks on £*, in his treatise on that 
word at Apollo's temple in Delphi — e* ofaXov — if it might 
came to pass, and that u has an optative power — it is the 
great quinary or fifth power, hence irEfxiraZeLv, to count by 
fives, and that the two EE were consecrated to the God 
for a mark and symbol of all things. E means efficient., 
symbolically. 

I, like its predecessors, is anomalous in sound, and it 
is analogous to e. 

Before the Hebrews adopted the use of points, they 
expressed e and i by the same mark, and its form in ancient 
writings was like Z to prevent its being mistaken for gamma, 
which at that time was I upright, a little inclined. Indeed 
the I was substituted for V by the Dorians and Eolians, as 
Eustathius shews in Svtypog for ci(j>pog, jivaog for fiiaog. 

The Hebrew yod has the power of y and i — in Greek 
iota. The y was retained by the Romans and is no other 
than upsilon. This was the only vowel over which no stroke 
or mark was drawn to denote its quantity, but it was 
lengthened in the nature of a capital as pIso vlvus, and 
this was styled a long letter, and jocosely one desirous of 
hanging himself, said he wished to make a long letter of 
himself. — See Plautus Aulularia. 

The Greek i is converted into e by the Latins, as /mtvOa, 
mentha, rtyyw, tingo. The latter had our diphthongal i 
and u, as is evidenced by murorum and Puni, which they 
wrote indifferently with ce or u, as mccrorum, Poince, 
poenio, punio. 

It may have been commonly sounded as at this day on 
the continent, and that the ei found on the tomb of Scipio 
and on the Twelve Tables, in Plautus as captivei, and in 
Lucrctivs omneis, &c, may be similarly emitted. But 
Justus Lipsius, in his treatise De vera pronunciatione Latini 
Scrmonis, thinks, the English have the real sound of i in 
their pronunciation of Latin, and I believe he founds on the 
letter to Cicero of Papirius Pectus, where there is a question 



204 

as to tlie exact sound of ei in binei. Cic. Epist. 22, Lib. ix. 
Biuus means two, hence Bivsio coeo, written ga'vew. This 
shews that ei or i in these words were sounded alike, and 
were identified by Tully, who was an orthoepist as well as a 
rhetorician. In Virgil olli is put for illi. In Greek all 
datives end in i subscript, which was dropped by the 
iEolians, and in this they were followed by the Latins, 
making agro for agroi, metu for metui, &c. 

With us i sinks into e, as virtue, mirth, and shire, which 
should never be sounded shire. The irregular sound of 
sirrah is exploded, contrary to the fear of Dr. Walker, who 
thought the sound of a in sirrah, instead of i, was a fixture 
in English and incorrigible. The i was written with two 
dots on either side or above, *r i, to indicate it was the eye 
letter, in honour of the organ of vision, and the signification 
of the symbol i is extent or indefinite. 

The letter J was always sounded like y in Latin, yuvat 
for juvat, and Yupiter, &c. as the Germans pronounce it. 

O is symbolical, and means individual or whole. It is 
one of the oldest vowels, and it appears thus 8, on Egyptian 
relics. The quantity was long or short, until w came to 
fix and note the difference. It is very easily glided into a, 
and conversely as aporpov, aratrum, and into e as yovv, 
genu, into i as koviq, cinis, into u as vv%, nox, into au as 
codex, caudex, the stem or trunk of a tree, with which 
books were bound ; similar to liber, the bark of a tree, 
whence is derived liber, a book, pars pro toto — plostrum 
drifts into plaustrum. It has its mutations in English, and 
is frequently pronounced as double o— in bosom, Pole, 
Brome, Croke, Scrope, Poley, &c, which words are never 
pronounced otherwise by correct speakers. The ancients 
had this full thick sound for w, as if pronounced in the 
hollow of the mouth. It has the sound of w also in the 
French word oyer and terminer, and in Bowyer. It is 
pronounced like u with us, as Monday, &c, and so it was 
with Greeks and Latins, as Osiris, Usiris, Odusseus, Ulysses. 



205 

It may have been emitted wau if the Syriac o was styled 
ovau. In Greek oIkoq was sounded wolkoq, oivov, from the 
Hebrew iin ; the first jod by repetition pronounced u, which 
indicates a vowel and a consonant at the same time, so it 
might lapse into the power of <j>, one of the digamma class. 
Thus o would lose its vowel character and become a diphthong 
and a consonant in power. The genitive ov is expressed 
by a simple o on the Sigean monument and on the Nointel 
inscription,* supposed to be some 500 or 600 years anterior 
to Christianity. Some coins have the same peculiarity. 
Omega was written o or £2, and w is evidently two oo so 
united. In Plato it is thus written, and in the Alexandrine 
manuscripts the forms were <ytt, and in the later manu- 
scripts oo <u> . 

O is said to be derived from the Syrian vau. O reversed 
A answering both to o and u, which latter was of later use. 
Lanzi observes with verity that time was when the Romans 
reiterated their vowels to indicate a long quantity, as vaala 
fe-elix ; hence the eii for ei in Plautus. The Hebrew had a 
dot to mark a double vowel or consonant which served to 
denote quantity also. O means the whole. " His eyes 
drouped Zfo/e sunken in his hede," (Chaucer) where hole is for 
whole ; and d used imperatively before o means completion, 
as a-d-o completing the whole. The efficacy and antiquity 
and affinity between to and do has been explained in the 
chapter on Do and To, page 66. I again remark that 
Do is one of the most ancient and cardinal words in our 
language, and is a specimen of primitive diction. 

O had an affinity with c, hence so many adverbs in e and 
o ; as vere, vcro, tute, tuto. By this analogy genitives in 
e arc formed as vulnus, vulncris j and the reduplication in e, 
and o, as momordi for memordi. O and u are nearly the 
same, Hccoba, notrix, servom for servum. 

U, Y. In this we find as much variety as any other 
vocal symbol. It was sounded like double o in prove, and 
* Inscription discovered at Athena by ilie Martinis dc Nointel. 



206 

assumed that of y in Sulla ; and Kvpi c sounded Kyrie, Lord, 
and i in monimentum, as in modern Greek, and it may 
have been sounded like the French eu. When it com- 
menced a word in Greek it was aspirated, and it filled the 
sound like ou y assigned to it as its power in lumen, like 
humeri, fouit for fuit, jure written joure, which favour the 
hypothesis. Before a consonant a sound like v or f was 
inserted as ^evyw, fefgo. 

The negative ov was once indicated by o simple, and 
letters were omitted as Ifii for elfii. All writings, whether 
in manuscripts or on lapidary inscriptions, lapse into con- 
tractions, not from want of vowels, but with a view to 
expedition. In fact the transformations and metamorphoses 
in Greek manuscripts are very extensive, and almost in- 
credible. Words of ten and fourteen letters are reduced 
by contraction to two, as may be seen in the Pcecilographia 
graeca, published in London in 1807. -A- sort of pictorial 
contraction is also found, as feet drawn for 7r6^eg; and 
waves to indicate sea, for da\a<j<ra, besides the shrinking 
and shrivelling of long words, " Oavjua ISeaQai." There is 
scarce any thing that can not be done in words and lan- 
guage which has not been done between the license of the 
writers and the commentators, establishing whimsical rules, 
so that every variety of change could take place in aspirates 
before vowels, or in the augment of particular tenses in 
particular verbs, of which Payne Knight speaks (page 41), 
of his Greek alphabet. As this letter u is cut on the 
Sigean monument it evinces it to be of no later date than 
other vowels. It is not a pure vowel, being composed of 
eu, and is convertible into v, which glides into f and w. 
So it was used for that mysterious letter the iEolic digamma, 
as antique monuments illustrate in Venus, Fenus, &c. 

U takes the power of eu or yu in English, as union, 
usage, and all words preceded by u. Ex. : usurp, utensil, 
uvula, utility. 

This digamma, of which I shall treat under V, is of a 



207 

very long range, and by repute draws its birth from the 
Phenician Vau. The aspirate was more frequent in Greek 
and Latin than is supposed, and this letter was one of its 
chief agents, Quintilian avouches, B. xii. C. 10, that the 
Greeks could not pronounce the double u in equum or 
represent it in their characters. 

In tracing to its sources the characters of the early- 
Greek alphabet the vowels are found to be Phoenician, 
which is only a Hebrew dialect, as the letter y is expressed 
by u ; what is required to be known about it is referable 
to that vowel. The Latins pronounced it either way — as 
sulla, sylla — and modern Greeks pronounce Kvpis, kyrie, 
and so did the ancients, as observed before. Dr. Wallis 
thought y an aspiration of g. 

Here I shall briefly advert to the diphthongs, and remark 
that there is as much difficulty about their true sounds 
as those of vowels ; anomalies abound, and in their sound 
no two nations concur, for the explanation of the vowels 
given by Dionysius is not so clear as to be unequivocal ; 
it is certain the modern Greek usage differs greatly from 
the pronunciation there set down ; though they think it 
literary treason to dispute their dicta on this point, and 
despise all European practice, yet they pronounce the 
diphthongs, nearly all alike. We used their method until 
King Edward's reign, when Sir John Cheke, " who taught 
our Cambridge, and King Edward Greek," and Sir Thomas 
Smyth, Kt., of Hill Hall, Essex, and Ankerwycke Wrays- 
bury, County Bucks, two learned professors of that 
language in the Cambridge University, arrested the pro- 
gress of it. The Greek refugees from Constantinople, who 
were beginning to touch on the outside rind of science, 
introduced into Western Europe this modern utterance, 
which had been general with them for centuries, but that 
does not prove it to have been the very same employed by 
Pericles and Demosthenes in their palmy days. To have 
pursued the pronunciation adopted by modern Greeks had, 



208 

perhaps, been better, having been so taught originally, 
and now we have changed it we are not more certain we 
have improved it, or discovered a nearer approximation to 
truth or utility. 

A Greek nobleman once told me that he went to a 
University in France to hear their Greek recitations, and 
having asked when they would begin, was informed they 
were all over. The fact was he had not understood one 
word or recognised a note to indicate that his native 
language was in process of declamation. Being a firm 
friend, and attached to literature, he politely read me 
some parts of Aristophanes, with due grace and emphasis, 
and I observed a frequent recurrence of aspiration, which 
did not however deduct from the melody of the verse, 
although he violated quantity, availing himself of the 
accents only, on which, as about Hebrew points, there is so 
much discrepance. Variety is a characteristic of physics, 
and man has made it common too in all matters of 
language, polity, morals and religion. " Tradidit mundum 
disputationi ejus." 

At, the diphthong, or bivocal, was pronounced as our, 
<j(j)aXpa, sphsera, vp.ivaiog — hymenseus, alvsiag iEneas — 
fiovcra, musse. This @e was sounded e as setas, etas, es for ses, 
and inversely 8e was substituted for e. The town of Caere 
is said to be derived from %a1pz, a ^ieu. Hence comes 
Cures and Quirites — though some derive it from Coir or 
Quir, a spear in Gaelic, so Quirinus, the Sabine God, is 
quiris or spear. 

Av took the sound of af — and thus by it Aristophanes 
expresses the barking of a dog, as av, av, but this re- 
sembles the crying of a hound more than the yelping of a 
small canine quadruped. It lapsed into o as caudex, codex 
— and the Dorians said, w\a% for av\a% sulcus, Aorelius 
for Aurelius. 

El emitted e by modern Greeks, and its mutation 
was into se, as olarpog, sounded estrum, and oldnrovg got 



209 

into GEdipus, sounded also JEtf-ipus, and not OiSlitovq, which 
first sound our ancestors folio wed, although some modern 
purists pronounce the diphthong as 01. The Latins said, 
mestus, for msestus ; loiber, leiber, liber. 

I think Latin as pronounced by some moderns a vicious 
deviation from authority and truth. Ev was like f, as evje, 
bravo, was sounded efge. — a^aptorta, like efcharistia. 
Some think 01 was sounded as written, but as the Latin 
nominative plural ends in i, there can be little doubt but 
the Greeks pronounced the oi as i, that is e. — -Ex.: ovav^aXoi, 
Vandali, So/moi, domi — and that this is true comes out in 
full evidence from the words in Thucydides, B. II. c. 54. 
\oifxbg pestilence and Xi/jibg famine, both pronounced the 
same way exactly. f H£a Awpiaicog woXefiog teal Xoijubg a/*' 
avToj. The conjunction kcu was always sounded kee, and is 
no other then the Latin que, which qu came into k, and oe 
come into u, as Pceni, Puni — quasi Phceni, as coming from 
Phenicia — the Jews had no p in their alphabet, as remarks 
St. Jerome. — ov had the sound of f — as vlov, wiof, which 
of is the same as father, denoting origin, and is the same 
as ab father— a7ro, a$, ab-habeo, of; the general preposition, 
one of the oldest words in language, in Russian also, as 
Eoman-of. See page 74 under Of and Have. 

These analogies shew common descent, and a common 
language is a proof of it, although there are instances 
where the native tongue has been completely extinguished 
by interlopers ; for some invaders impelled by the power- 
ful and dominant instinct of freedom in the olden times, 
planted their speech to the exclusion and even annihilation 
of the aboriginal and matricular tongue. Still language is 
an evidence of community of origin hard to be effaced, and 
the contact of two languages has a greater tendency to 
effect obliteration than to form a new tongue out of both. 
There is a fundamental unity of all forms of speech which 
go to establish the opinion that all languages are derived 
from one common source. The philologves of the present 

p 



210 

day admit this, and they find the affinities of language 
greater the deeper rooted they are, as is proved from the 
analysis and synthesis to which they may be almost said to 
be chemically subjected. 

On the Power of Consonants. 

B. All letters are symbolical which are not created for 
distinction of sounds, hence B is inhabitation, and is said 
so to be called from Beth, bad, bat, abad — a booth, but no 
more resembling one than a resembles a camel, or a whale. 
However in Malleus Northern Antiquities, b is styled 
Biarkan in Runic, which denotes a house or booth. B is 
subject to various sounds ab, p, v, and their cognates, the 
same as the iEolic digamma, the letter of many powers. 
Quintilian remarks, what shall I say of our syllables 
which lean on B and D in so rough a manner, " imituntur 
adeo aspere," so that v is often substituted for b, as aversa 
for abversa ? 

Boo-jco begot pasco, and labor lapsus, 6piajufioQ 9 trium- 
phus, (jxtXaiva, balsena bixit is only vixit and Aaj3tS, David, 
— a word inscribed on Etruscan monuments perplexed 
the sages for a time — it is Ril — and it is proved to be 
only Vixit. Vix-sit. — R being substituted for b, and the 
final i for k. The modern Greeks sound b like v, and the 
Latins said as the French now do, apstineo for abstineo — 
apsent for absent — ap-soudre, &c. 

B was an aspirated p, and was used for <£ & tt like the 
digamma or h — as fipoSog for poSog, and it was intro- 
duced into the middle of words with the digamma proper- 
ties — we do the same with be. (Page 120.) B was repre- 
sented also by d. — Ex.: bellum, duellum, bellona, duelona, 
and even duorum was inscribed dvonoro — the m being 
omitted. 

C denotes cause instrumental. After the Trojan war, 
about whose history and facts Jacob Bryant entertained 
such grave doubts, taking Homer's Epic to be a mere 



211 

novel and a fiction, the Greeks introduced t and k for 
distinction of sound. 

In fact, y, k, c, q, are all identical in sound. C was 
employed for s, as we use it in sincerity, and for sh, as, in 
short, from curtus, for k and g as Caius, Taiog, acnom for 
agnum — acrum for agrum, pucnandodfor pugnando— cum 
for aw, once written you v. Most of the Ionic letters cor- 
respond with the Roman, except c or s and g. The Roman 
c though differing from s in its shape supplied the power 
of it in the Roman language. When they had not the 
letter g they used c, and Quintilian says that some letters 
are written one way and enunciated another, as c for g, 
and the Duilian pillar has rem cerens for gerens, and so of 
many words where c is substituted for g, and pronounced 
like the latter. 

Note that c was always sounded hard before all vowels, 
as in ccena, scaena, celer, and scelus, and the words caedo, 
census, cygni, were pronounced differently from sedo, 
sensus, signi. Cicero was written Ki/ccpwv. The Italians, 
who pretend to correct Latin pronunciation, emit ce and ci 
as if with a ch — and the Spaniards give ce-ci, a slight lisp 
like th — which enables them to conquer the English th, 
so hard for foreigners to effect. 

D is symbolical, and denotes completion or cause total. 
It is daleth — said to represent a door. This letter, a 
dental consonant, is a t hardened, as t is a soft d, — modus 
glides into mutus, (lingua is written for lingua, sedda for 
sella, cadamitas, for calamitas, poSov, rosa, dig, bis, Duilian 
and Bilian arc the same, the word is engraven bilios on 
the column ; perhaps the modern Greek pronunciation 
may approximate to its ancient sound th, as thclta for delta. 
The d indicated completion, and so terminated gerunds 
and oblique cases, carrying a sort of lisp with it, as fader, 
father — jmcnandod — in altod mari. It was, however, an 
aspirate or kind of breathing, rather than a distinct sound, 
and it was occasionally dispensed with by the Romans as 

p2 



212 

they improved in orthography, for diction merely vocal is 
always in its childhood, putting duit for tuit, whence 
comes tuer to kill in French. Maled illuxisset dies — d 
was also used on account of the concurrence of vowels. 
All labials, palatines and dentals are related, and are inter- 
changeable as z for f, and d for t. Ex. : zeit, tide— Zweig, 
twig — thun to do ; thing, ding, thought ; id is idea — ■ 
synonymous with thought. 

The Anglo-Saxon p=th in thin, and d=th in thine, 
have become obsolete, but we see that the Saxons had a 
sound more than ourselves in pronunciation. 

Welsford in his Mithridates Minor, p. 38, asserts, he 
does not believe that d ever did close words, and that no 
such words were really found on antique sculpture, and 
says he can not discern the reason, and concludes they 
were added by the engraver only — but the truth stands on 
numberless records, and the mystery is in the power of 
the letter d which certainly may be very reasonably, and 
as certainly does mean completion or cause total. 

F. This is another letter comprised under the conve- 
nient iEolic long range, ycleped digamma. Ex.: Foivog 
o'lvog, vinum — is changed into f — as fy-qp, fera. The 
Spanish language avails itself of this metathesis in many 
Latin words commencing with f, as hacienda, a farm 
from facienda — haz, for fasces, haya, fagus, &c. This 
digamma, the JDeus ex machind was interposed in words 
for the sake of aspirate as oIq, ope — fostis, hostis. Quin- 
tilianL.xii. c. 10, thinks the letter f to be horrid, and only 
fit use for savages, " pame non hum ana voce, vel omnino 
non voce potius inter discrimina dentium efflanda est." 
Its force is gone when followed by a vowel, and by a con- 
sonant it breaks the sound, " ut in hoc ipso frangit multo 
fit horridior." 

<J) is exchanged for p. The compound <p is directly 
adapted from the Sanskrit, while its kindred digamma 
j" is the Samaritan B converted by a transition of sound, 



213 

of which fact language offers numerous examples, into the 
softer ones of bf — pf, or f. 

I shall advert to this letter again in V, where by its so 
frequent application it is seen that language proceeds 
through improvement to degeneracy. 

G is always pronounced hard before vowels like c, and is 
a letter used for distinction of sound, and is shaped va- 
riously. Ex. : on the Pelasgic inscription it is formed 
thus, TVS an( l perpendicularly I. From this shape it was 
curved into C, and its next step was G, which was not used 
for some thirty years after the C found on the Duilian 
pillar in the year of Rome, or B.C. 493. The first signs of 
its articulation were P and T, says P. Knight. It is a pity 
we do not give its due power in our schools and universi- 
ties, c is soft g, nor could the Romans have adopted any 
other sound coming so immediately from the hard K, as 
\iyu), Xl£w, \e\exa, which represents the y of "the root. 
The Greeks, ancient and modern, give a guttural sound 
to y, but y and k were introduced for distinction in sound, 
and were interchangeable, and in their power the Latins 
and Greeks coincided. Gu was sounded as in guerra — ■ 
gtarra. In the word reyyd), found in tingo, it is likely the 
first double g took the sound of n ; and in ayyeXog, angelus 
also. It is doubtless the Phoenician gimel, gam el, meaning 
camel, in whose long neck some resemblance was recognised. 

II — a letter of distinction and not a pure symbol, written 
E=3P and /» — , also like the figure 8, as was also the 
double letter <j> in the Pelasgic monuments or character. 
Again it was inscribed EI, and the junction formed the 
letter II in the Athenian Manuscripts, B.C. 430. The 
Greeks arc thought to have dropped the sound of the h in 
combination, as all foreigners do, athys sounding like 
atys, and athrax like atrax, th in Thebas was Tebas ; and 
so written on medals T for 0, Tebe — the h or aspirate 
being sunk. Demosthenes was so emitted also. This letter 
is another of the iEolic digamma order, in fine, a guttural. 






214 

It was superseded, a mark being substituted to denote its 
absence thus after sucb words as 'Pctjuvoe, f P/jrwjO. It had 
a very strong guttural sound, like the French and Italian 
h, a canine letter. 

It is the same as the double letter x when introduced 
into mihi and nihil, and it hardens the aspirate — jui got 
into semi, and e% into sex. 

This guttural sound is still preserved by modern Italians, 
in Florence, at least, the word casa, house (whence is derived 
the French chez) is emitted Hasa, with a slight sound of 
c before it. Londoners are wont to prefix and sound h 
before vowels and omit it when there, by some woeful per- 
versity, and in the days of Martial he complained of the 
same corruption in some of his metropolitan friends and 
acquaintances who were not purists in the Roman dialect, 
Quintilian, that Magister elegantiarum, adverts to this 
anomaly and sin. I have adverted to this letter under E. 

K. Has but one sound, and is in the distinctive class of 
letters, not purely symbolical. It is a digamma, being a 
combination of g repeated, which arises from g being 
originally a perpendicular line, thus, , as observed before, 
from which it took a curved shape and became angular, 
for K is an inverted 3, A, and is so found in the Eugubian 
tables, and 01 in Pelasgic. It is expressed in the letter (J > 
the origin of Q from C 0. Two gammas turned visage to 
visage. K H was used for X, and it supplied the place for 
gamma. There was no K in Latin so C was substituted, 
kcu is only que, sounded by both nations kee. K preceding 
i might have a guttural effect like G. Its power is not even 
given by French, Italians, or Spaniards in reading Greek. 

L. Is a symbolical letter and imports extent — a most 
significant liquid, and is used in a geminated form in Welsh 
as Lloyd — pronounced and written also Floyd. Plato 
styles it the sweetest of liquids and almost a vowel. It can 
be aspirated, and it is joined with mutes, but not before p 
and v. It changes into several letters and may be sub- 



215 

stituted for d. If consonants are bent into other symbols 
it is not surprising that the flexible I can scarcely be 
identified in its sundry metamorphoses. Liquids are called 
immutable, but what letter is so ? The figure has assumed 
various phases in its form, the earliest of which, the Pelasgic, 
is thus, V, and \7/>. 

Dr. Wallis says, that the liquids L and U are anomalous, 
and he derives them from d and n. Some people can not 
sound these letters, but fall into n for 1, as nobster for 
lobster : and R is the last letter that an infant learns, often 
using L in its stead. Hence the affinity between them, and 
their interchangeability. 

M. This liquid implies might, and like its predecessor 
is symbolical. The variations in its form have been few, 
but eventually it was reversed thus jli, according to the 
synoptical tables in the Murbacensian* authorities, A.D. 
800. It is emitted at the end of a word like die-m, and 
like the French word dompter — sounded do?*ter nasally 
before a consonant. Before a vowel it was elided in poetry 
as optimu-est, though some have thought there was no 
elision, and that the m was carried on in the scansion. 
This letter is convertible into n occasionally, as ansanctus 
for amsanctus. 

It is never found at the close of Greek words, but in 
lieu of it a v, which gives a sweet ending says Quintilian, 
who nevertheless styles it (Lib. XII. c. 10) a bellowing 
letter — " quasi mugiente litem claudimus m qua nullum 
grsecc verbum cadit." 

N. Indicates production, and has been considerably diver- 
sified in its shape from an upright N to the reverse in V. 
The earliest form in the Pelasgic alphabet gives it these 
figures ^l fj i and in the Cadmean age it resembled an s 
in Z£. Subsequently it continued its present shape N. 

* So styled in the Pacflographia groeca ; a work on Greek contractions 
published at the instance of FoTSOD, in 1807, from the Palaeographia grccca 
of Montfaucon in 1708. 



216 

There is an affinity between it and m. The Latins con- 
tinually substituted m for the Greek v, as musam for 
fisaav, lignum for £,v\ov. Sometimes that general repre- 
sentative the digamma was interwoven as in wov, o-v-um, 
an egg, eggery, aery. It was changed for m in Greek, as 
fir], not, turned into ne in Latin, also into r as julovti, mora, 
and kviZu), crisso. The letter Z is also used for n. It is 
said that the Romans never had the sound of our ing, but 
if so, how did they pronounce anxius ? It was added to 
words or interposed in words, and was styled v l^eXKvarKov 
or paragogic v, a subsidiary letter, like <j)i at the end of 
a word, €tr?0t. (Page 89.) The pronoun lya was formerly 
written engo, iwvya from aham in Sanscrit and Celtic. 
(Page 87«) The Greeks softened away the concurrence of 
consonants. Ex. : ag, eig, once ended in avg, evg, as found 
in the genitive nag, iravrog, and was formerly navg. The 
dative plural iraai in Homer is found to be ttclvtzggl 
contracted to iravTcn, and the participle wv was once ovg, 
as dialog, SiSovTog, and in ovg, the same, rvwriiyv, tvtttovgcl, 
instead of rvrrTovTeGcraj thus softening the inflexions of the 
feminine gender. 

P. Is not a symbol, but used for distinction of sound, 
and is a cognate with b, v, f, and in common with many 
other letters is supplanted by the accommodating iEolic 
digamma, a sort of talisman among letters or symbols. In 
Coptic this letter is styled hi. II H were used for <pi, which 
was adopted from the Sanskrit. The form of the letter 
has varied from these shapes 1 Vl ^ until it reached n, 
in which figure it remains conjointly with ST. We find its 
mutability in nriyit), written figo, and wdOa), fido. It declines 
into q in linrog, equus, and into v in levis from \e7r\g ; 7rf/, 
Kit), qua ; and it is dropped in latus from irXarvg, and also 
in uro from wvpu), and by its interposition in Xaag, it forms 
la-p-is. So of daig, dapis is made. In sounding the word 
obtcmr in French, the b is emitted p, optenir, as we have 
remarked under B. <f>i is exchanged for p, and out of 



217 

crirovSri comes studium. The Latins dispense with its ser- 
vices when this letter is followed by t, as pt. tttxhjgiq — for 
tussis, cum multis aliis. The labial aspirate was repre- 
sented in the Etruscan alphabet like our figure of 8 ; and 
in the Alexandrine Manuscripts these forms appears 
A^ 43 for \p. 

Q. As a symbolical significant, it implies individual or 
whole, and is a Roman letter, having the power of k, as quis, 
quae, quid (kcu og) was thought to be sounded kis, kse, kid, 
and Kai is que, kee ; though Mithridates junior derives quis 
from ke alius in Coptic, and is, added by contraction quis. 
The Sanskrit ki or chi and the Italian chi, he thinks iden- 
tical, and all deducible from chi, life or creature in Hebrew. 
This letter was used for c, pequunia, loquor, locantur, 
quando, cuando, and the recapitulation of the Ciceronian 
pun determines the pronunciation of this letter in the words 
coque and quoque to be exactly the same. Q is co, and if i 
be added we have the word coeo. In English it is sounded 
in quantity, quality ', &c, always rhyming with jollity. 

The intervention of the iEolic digamma is not wanting 
here again, teste Ainsworth ; and Quintilian observes that 
the Greeks could not pronounce it, the sound being quite 
unknown to them ; Quintus they wrote Kolvrog. In Book 
XII. c. 10, Quintilian says, " duras et ilia syllabas facit 
quse ad conjungendas demum subjectas sibi vocales est utilis, 
alias supervacua, ut equos ac et equum scribimus." The 
letter Q makes a harshness in syllables, though useful for 
joining the vowels which follow it, as equos and cquum. 
In other respects it is superfluous. These two vowels also 
form a sound unknown to the Greeks, and therefore can 
not be represented by any of their characters. 

R is symbolical, and denotes motion. Er in Islandic 
means am, and its figure is the same in both alphabets of 
the learned tongues. R generally formed by P, but the 
shapes q a are Pelasgic. It is styled the canine letter, 
Sonat hicc dc nare canina, Litera — Pcrsius, Sat. I. v. 108, 



218 

and for this reason it was softened into s as ara, asa, 
carmen, casmen — labor, labos, and sometimes is inserted 
fAvaZ, murex : vvbg, murus. This is confirmed by Varro, 
B. vi. 

It has been said that R was unknown to the Latins, 
who used s, as the hymn of Fratres arvales, discovered 
A. D. 218, and supposed to be coeval with the foundation 
of Rome, seems to confirm. 

Enos, Lases juvate is for lares juvate. The same sub- 
stitute of s, for It seems to obtain in Indo-European 
tongues. The R is also substituted for s, which is a much 
older form than R, and in fact the Sanskrit S was mis- 
taken for R. So S and R are interchangeable in Sans- 
krit, the letter R, often redundant is used or abstracted 
without altering the sense. The Chinese can not pro- 
nounce R, and we find many with us who cannot conquer 
that letter ; the same defect was observed in Demosthenes, 
whose speech also was inarticulate, says Plutarch in his life. 

Hsereo written hseso and sosorem for sororem. In 
Greek iTnrog was written linrop. irovg, irop. 

The liquids are commutable in both tongues, and in 
English also. Colonel is pronounced kurnel, a word cor- 
rupted from corona — Sojpov, donum, TrXnprig plenus, iravpog, 
paucus, apvn, agna, &c. 

With the Hebrews it had a guttural sound, and a lisp 
with the Romans when they commuted it for S ; went 
into puer puella, and n as sereus, seneus. 

The oldest form of Rho resembles A, and hence arose 
mistakes. 

Dryden observes that Virgil commencing the iEneid 
seems to sound a charge, and begins his glorious Epopsea, 
with the clangor of a trumpet. 

" Arma virumque cano Trojse qui primus ab oris" — 
scarce a word without an R, and the vowels for the greater 
part sonorous. 

This letter was accompanied by a deep aspirate as in 



219 

Pa/xvoe, 'Pwjurj — from which word some derive Rome, im- 
plying strength, but this derivation may be on a par with 
the whole early Roman story, which Lord Macaulay holds 
for mere myth the first 300 years. The original Roman 
records were all burnt by the Gauls under Brennus the 
Goth, about B.C. 390, and it is probable that Livy and 
other florid writers finding no genuine records presumed 
on tradition or fragmentary evidence, and yet patriotically 
wrote to please their countrymen ; as Dr. Johnson remarked 
of Scotchmen, saying a Scotchman loves Scotland better 
than truth, he will always love it better than inquiry, and 
if falsehood flatters his vanity he will not be very diligent 
to detect it. 

The Eugubian tables were thought to be engraven be- 
fore Hesiod's sera, 1000 B. C. and among these early 
engravings are found the words, erihont, erafont, eriront, 
all which may be only the iEolic digamma or aspirate 
interposed, as in aiuv sev-um, lv HoSta inheo. There was a 
primitive orthography as well as a primitive diction, and 
Time, that common arbitrator, did for the ancients what it 
has done for us, make our orthography and pronunciation 
correspond. Men and language should be what they seem. 

When R precedes certain symbols, it denotes increase 
of energy. Thus e-w, I go, peu), I flow. Ruo I rush, and 
if followed by its own symbol and used as a prefix, it de- 
notes repetition. 

The Eretrians received colonists from Elis, whence it 
comes that they use the letter R as well in the middle as at 
the end of words, a common practice among the Dorians, 
for which they were derided, as this example proves — 
'A(j> ov kul rq> ypufjifxaTi Tip 'P^ ttoXX^ XpnvaiizvOL °^ K ^ 
TtXti fiovov twv pfifMTtoVj aXXci leal zv juccrtu, /aKw/x^jSrjvrcu. 
Strabo, B. x. c. 10. " They received colonists from Elis, 
whence their frequent use of the letter R, not only at the 
end, but in the middle of words, which exposed them to 
the raillery of comic writers." 



220 

S. Symbolical, and in significative interpretation, it 
means existence. JEr denotes an incipient motion, and es 
an incipient existence. In ancient symbolical diction a 
difference was made between motion and existence, but in 
writing, the z and s serves either office, as ero and eso in- 
differently. 

The figure of S is nearly the same in both languages, 
that of the famous Scythian bow S taken from the Phoe- 
nician alphabet without variation. Its oldest Pelasgic 
form is % and its Cadmean ^ . About the time of Alex- 
ander, the C prevails in MSS. as well as this form C, the 
Doric san mentioned by Herodotus and Pindar. The 
Ionians called it sigma, and it is aspirated t. 

Now S and T are interchangeable ; o<r was converted 
into tt. Especially in Bceotia, as Gvpvrruv for avpiZeiv. 
T was also employed for ev, as rv for ev. 

The Lacedaemonians pronounced two dental aspirates 9 
and S alike, but they were not confounded in orthography 
or expressed by one sign. 

C was substituted for 2, or in reality was the original 
S, as AEMOS0ENEC, in fact it is common on engravings 
and manuscripts; for the attributes of this letter, see 
page 78. 

S is styled a servile letter and is substituted for sundry 
consonants in conjugating verbs, and it was elided by the 
Greeks, hence, confusion was caused in the tenses of 
verbs, 

Plato styled it a breathing letter, but the Greek spirit 
or aspirates were changed into S, as dfii sum— owrrog, 
succus, a\g, sal, i£ sex. 

The Romans melted it away to avoid sibilation as audi'ne, 
credi'ne. 

*? Nos sumu' Romani qui fuvimus ante Rudini." 

The S is often dropped iu the Sanskrit substantive — 
verb to be, asmi, asi, asti — which is only sum-es-est, and 
so with the rest of the conjugations. (Page 25.) 



221 

The poets elided it. as m was elided — pugnantibu 'ventis 
plenu' fidei, and in prose, Cicero has not denied himself 
this liberty. 

S was prefixed to some words as slites, slocus, to impart 
strength, but it was certainly divested of euphony. In 
the time of Tully the geminated s came into vogue to 
demonstrate that s was sharp, and never pronounced like 
z as caussa, causa, cassus for casus. 

Quintilian B. V. i. 17- avers that both Cicero and Virgil 
doubled the s, and we double ours in some words, but in 
the mouth of correct speakers it is rather softened into 
single s, as asociate for associate ; and in the same may 
be observed and followed in double ff, where only one 
single f should be heard offensively, as e-face and not 
efface, which Dr. Walker critically remarks is so agreeable 
to a chaste ear and speaker, and is a distinguishing mark 
of elegant pronunciation. 

The Saxons omitted s when two came together, as " Ther 
is grete melodee of Aungele Song." — Prikke of Conscience. 
Lambeth MSS. 

S has a hissing sound, so the Spartans preferred the 
letter R to it, and a famous line of Euripides, 

" Eo-ojoxi cr'oJc laaaiv f EXXr]vt5v oaoi," is a specimen of 
Greek alliteration, (of which I have remarked in the 
Figures of Speech) which came under the animadversion 
of the critics, while Pindar over appreciating his barren 
achievement is reported to have written more than one Ode 
without the service of s, a task apparently impossible, 
except in a magician or fiction-dealing bard, and like 
Scaliger who estimated two favourite Odes at the value of 
a kingdom. 

T. This letter is similar in Greek and Latin. It is the 
Coptic Dau, with the power of D, and it is the last letter 
in the Hebrew, alphabet, and means bound. It varied 
with d as, |3arw vaclo, kutw cado ; and again d is turned 
into t, as tvdov, intus. Tujztoov, terebra an awl; b 



222 

comes also into t, as gijo-o-w tussio, t>o(TKr\fia bestia. TV 
reversed is et, and sometimes it is converted into o- as 
vavria, nausea, with the same hissing sound as in patient. 

T was put also for s, as ^art for Qclgl, |3art for ]3ac, Ittztov 
for £7T£o-ov. It was always sounded as t pure, and never 
like our s or c, as moderns pronounce Latin. J. Lipsius 
admits it retained its natural sound, and should never lose 
its natural power before vowels. 

G is supposed to be a primitive letter, and a symbol re- 
presenting the solar luminary, and was emitted theta, and 
not teta, as Aristophanes shews. Tha is a circle like the 
sun by a strain 6a with the article 6c- The relative 
and article also, as Oaog, Oeog, God the. (Page 81.) 

In early times we know not what schemes of intelli- 
gence abounded, and as in our times, Roscommon and Swift, 
formed a plan of a society for refining our language, and 
fixing its standard, so did the Italians in their De la Crusca 
Association, and they succeeded wonderfully ; but ours 
failed, because unanimity is impossible in law, language or 
religion (under present circumstances), and a certain amount 
of respect is wanting where law can not be enforced, or 
means of preservation established. 

Those who admire Lucian, and taste a joke, may see 
how T was treated in a mock action of ejectment by S, the 
letter T being brought before the tribunal of vowels, and 
was made to hang on his own gibbet for intruding on the 
rights of S, but being-non-suited by the prevailing power 
of the Athenian eloquence, meditated revenge, and made 
reprisals by the help of a barbarous nation, who, though 
they left T in possession, gave her power away to S, in 
more instances, both in her own and the conquered Roman 
dominions, than she could pretend her neighbour had 
invaded her right ; viz. — that wherever T came before the 
third vowel, another vowel following, S under very few 
restrictions should take her power ; and the grammarians 
who ought to have opposed this usurpation confirmed it. 



223 

In some cases with us t is omitted as in them. Prey- 
sing hem — for them. 

There has not been so much variation in this letter since 
writing or engraving were adopted, the elder forms of 
which were t + Y m Pelasgic monuments, subsequent 
to which epoch it has ever borne an upright posture. 

This letter was called nigrum theta, because the first 
in the fatal word Oavarog death, which was inscribed on 
the condemnatory tables. In the amphitheatres the 
depressing of the thumb was a • signal for saving the 
gladiatorial combatant, but if he were to die, pollicem ver- 
tebant, they turned up their thumbs. Shows of gladiators 
were prohibited by Constantine the Great, but this in- 
human butchery was not entirely suppressed till the reign 
of Honorius, A. D. 404, these exhibitions having lasted 
some 670 years. 

V. Here the iEolic digamma shines in all efficacy and 
pretensions, and to appreciate its manifold applications a 
scholar should read Payne Knight on this letter, a sort of 
literal menstruum, which solves all difficulties, and like 
gold, " solders close impossibilities, and makes them kiss.-" 

It is no letter of its own inherent right, but it is used 
variously for distinction of sound. 

In Mithridates Minor there is a pendant to Mr. Knight's 
dissertation on this letter, which is a very charm among 
vocables, and so various, that it seems to be not one, but 
all the letters epitome. Known as digamma, or double 
gamma, and such an affection and predilection had Mr. 
Knight for it, that he thought the venerable Homer 
imperfect, until his digamma edition was published ; yet 
this novelty lias not prevailed over much, for those who 
try to read Greek, with the antique adjunct, find them- 
selves rather embarrassed by its presence, though it may 
be very proper in these days of advancement or experi- 
ment, that such an edition should appear. 

Its power lies in b, f, p. Before the depressive conso- 



224 

nants I v$to became efdo, sounded like f when preceding the 
acute consonants as avrog, aftos, lv\apig, efcharis. 

It had the power of w as in wall, vallum — wend, venio — 
way, via — weigh, veho. 

The Saxons substituted f for v also. Before ua it took 
the power of wa, as in lingua for strength, and v was dis- 
solved for melody into u as siluse for silva ; v\r) eolice yvXpri 
— silva, wood or substance of any kind, like roba in Italian, 
thing. 

It had the power of y in sulla, and it was exchanged for 
i in optumus, maxumus ; it was sunk in imperii, audii, 
and fui for fuivi. In fact, it was a perfect talisman, 
bearing a magical character and attributes, sui generis. 

The digamma is said also to be used in Sanskrit which 
has the power of V in all the Shemitic alphabets, and is no 
other than the Phoenician Vair, the parent of $1 and f. 
Mr. Knight writes of pew to flow as refo, and in Sanskrit 
the root is Riva, flow. Perhaps R here denotes fluidity, 
and is symbolical of motion. The aspirated and unaspi- 
rated forms of words are found in Sanskrit, and would 
seem to assume distinct roots — the h aspirate is a positive 
digamma — as ay a— and aha to go — Raya and raha to go, 
as explained by Welsford. 

The Roman tongue is chiefly iEolic, the oldest Greek 
form, hence the cherished digamma a Phenician adoption, 
3 the vau. H perpetually stands on inscriptions for 
aspirate only, and is occasionally inserted in the middle of 
words for that purpose as in lv. II . oSta (p. 219) — and H is 
found on the Sigean monument, which is older than Pala- 
medes, where it stands for an aspirate^only. Sol repeat 
my remark that there was a primeval orthography as well as 
primitive diction. H V F were all used _as aspirates by 
the two learned nations, and were undoubtedly digammas; 
Horta, vesta, where in Herodotus we find the word written 
ironically istie, kttiy}. It means vesta or fire, and Ovid felt 
that to be its meaning, and says it can only mean that. 



225 

Fasti. B. 6. v. This is another proof of the fire worship- 
ping tendency throughout all antiquity. See Chapter on 
Eastern tongues and times. 

" Effigiem nullam Vesta, nee ignis habent" — speaking of 
the statues erected to Vesta or Fire. Lanzi reads Vitellia 
for Italia, and as vltulus means calf in Latin, this is con- 
jectured to be the origin of Italia, but if no better deriva- 
tion is produced, we may remain in our ignorance, or in 
timidity, which is the instinct of ignorance. Various parts 
of Italy went by various names until finally it was com- 
prised under one generic term. 

The Digamma, as Dionysius insinuates, seems to have 
been prefixed to every word beginning with a vowel, some- 
times as H, sometimes as y and cp either for euphony, force or 
scansion, and participated the attributes of vowel, guttural, 
aspirate or consonant, and no doubt all the oriental 
tongues used itin the same way, though Quintilian observes 
that the Greeks could not even pronounce the Roman f. 
Perhaps there has been more dissertation on this mysteriovs 
letter than all the rest of the alphabet, but they have 
never changed the current pronunciation of the Greek 
tongue, which is of no remote date in England, for even 
Oxford University, temp. Henry VIII. actually resisted its 
introduction, and the Band was styled Trojans, as Sir 
Thomas More wrote in 1519, when Erasmus attempted to 
revive the study of a language truly like themselves, and 
conformable to their transcendent and universal genius, 
made, as Hermes observes, from its propriety and univer- 
sality for all that is great, and all that is beautiful in every 
subject and under every form of composition. 

What is called JSolic digamma was doubtless used by 
that people, but it was also inherent in all Eastern tongues, 
and became wholly indispensable in Greek wherever 
spoken, whether it preceded a vowel or was inserted in 
the middle, as in the word OviXta. L\\ the 20th chapter 

Q 



226 

of DionysiuSj Liber I., he says they always made a digamma 
to precede a vowel like a gamma formed by two oblique 
lines joined to an upright line, Tovro Sijv tocnrsp yap.p.a 
cittcuq hri fiiav op6r)v STTi^vyvvfAEvov raig 7r\ayiatg wg 
ytXivr) Kat Jiava^ kcll JioiKog teat y.avr)p Kai TtoXXa TOiavTa. 
In fact the number of digammated words was very con- 
siderable. 

I have comprised the letter Y under U, which is virtually 
the same letter — there is no word in Latin commencing 
with it. Pythagoras, the originator of the doctrine known 
as Metemphysicosis, or transmigration of souls, who settled 
in Magna Grsecia, and there founded his peculiar sect, 
said the letter Y by its figure represented the two roads of 
virtue and vice, the narrow and the broad way, and to 
this does Persius allude in this third Satire. 

iC Surgentem dextro monstravit limite callem." 

X is a double consonant of the second order of mutes, 
k. y. X- The Greeks wrote Xeycrto for Af£w, but the 
sound was identical. Aeiccrai for de^ai and okcfoXv for 
oxolu, and jeracks for ieracks seolice : ^ is y, <r, and k, <j. 
Sfvycxw is future of Zevyio composed of y and g, and not 
k and g. The Latins wrote apecs for apex, and it was 
used for g in iriaTptg, pistrix, a whale or sea monster. 
aiag, ajax, &c. The old Pelasgian % was formed thus 
f 9 and thus on the Sigean monument f. The old Pelas- 
gian ¥ was like a digamma V and the Alexandrine MSS. 
fashion it -j-^F — the letter n Pelasgic was "1 and later F and 
§ — yet the forms of the Greek letters from the early 
Pelasgic B.C. 1400 to the MSS. of A.D. 1400, do not vary 
considerably, and mostly are identical. The modern 
Greeks gutturalise this double letter, and the ancient 
Greeks probably did so, as there is an irrepressible ten- 
dency to guttural emissions in all Eastern tongues and 
dialects. ^ was substituted for S to avoid sibilation, which 
letter is called the serpent's letter, and the chief of the 



227 

consonants. Ben Jonson says it is the most easy and 
gentle letter, and softly hisseth against the teeth in the 
pr ola Hon or utterance. 

Z. This letter is one for distinction of sounds, and was 
wont to be written after this guise I, the perpendicularity 
of which was afterwards obliquated. It is a compound of 
S and D — the word Zevg is found on medals to be engraven 
SSaue- The same in AaicwOog and AeXem for ZaXwOog 
and AfXea— Afc, Aia, Divus. It had the soft sound of our 
g, in ginger, zinziber — and 0v£w was written for (pvya). 
Its sound was considered soft and sweet, and the Romans 
are said never to have attained these properties. Our 
words want those sweet Greek letters Y and Z, than 
which no other are sweeter in respiration and which give a 
charm to our words as often as we use them. The Greeks 
changed z into s as occasion required, and the Latins put 
ss for it in patrisso from Trarpu^w and of %vybg jugum 
was fashioned, so that z declined into y, as far as pronun- 
ciation went. The Spaniards sound z like th lispingly, 
which enables them to conquer the difficulties of our th, 
sounded mostly de by foreigners, to effect which the 
tongue should be interposed between the teeth. The 
Portuguese sound de like the, as Vasco the Gama — for de. 

7j is said to have been invented by Palamedes, or at 
least the sound of it, for other nations had the sound in 
zita. Before the invention of the six double consonants Z, 
O, <I>, X, E, X Y, the Ionians expressed their power in sd, th, 
gh, kh, kg, gs. Hence we find the old Greek and Roman 
letters identical, come whence they might, and where 
they did adopt them the language improved, and with it 
literature pari p<tssn } so that they attained an eminence 
only equalled since by urcat Britain. The Romans 
followed in the wake, knowing better how to copy than 
invent, for invention is true genius, the utmost sketch of 
human study, Learning and industry which masters every 

Q 2 



228 

thing beside, can never attain to genius. The Romans 
reached the sovereignty of arms, and Rome was the 
empire of the world, and the nurse of heroes, but how 
evanescent, compared to Greek literature, in whose great- 
ness real sovereignty presides, demonstrating how superior 
mind and spirit are to all sublunary attainments, which in 
comparison are of the earth, earthy. 

Thus have I given a brief but inadequate account of the 
letters, partly to shew their power, their figures, their ten- 
dencies, either as significative symbols, or used for distinc- 
tion of sounds, partly to shew how variable and inter- 
changeable they were within themselves, and to point out 
the direct dependence of the Roman and the Greek alpha- 
bets, chiefly derived from the Hebrew, or rather the Indo- 
European stock, as may be more clearly shewn by com- 
paring the synoptical tables of all the languages in their 
alphabetical forms, On symbols I could have dilated 
further, but this tractate, which I designed to be something 
more than an essay, and which I felt to be something less 
than a treatise, as broad and general as the casing subject 
itself, was compiled'rather to collect symbols of speech and 
to touch currently on their properties, than to pretend to 
penetrate and explain all their powers or uses, on which so 
many abler productions have been penned, like that capa- 
cious work styled an Analytical Essay on the Greek al- 
phabet by Richard Payne Knight. 

We may hence conclude that the grammars of the two 
learned dialects are very like, if not quite identical in struc- 
ture, participating also analogy and sound. The Greek 
tongue had its unfashioned and crude state, and is like our 
own tongue a very compound of Sanskrit, Phoenician, 
Egyptian, and Keltic, in which all these lingual elements 
are at least blended. 

Time, taste, and grim necessity, and " destiny unshun- 
nable like death," crystalized it into that divine speech 



229 

which Homer, and writers subsequent to the era of Eusta- 
thius, used. 

Between it and Latin the grammar and etymology are 
closely affined and kin^ for the superstructure of the Roman 
is proved to be a refined Celtic, its peculiar embellishments 
being borrowed from the parent dialect. Hermes justly 
observes, that in the short space of little more than a cen- 
tury the Greeks became such statesmen, warriors, orators, 
historians, physicians, critics, painters, sculptors, architects, 
and last of all philosophers, that one can hardly help con- 
dering that golden period, as a providential event in honour 
of human nature, to shew to what perfection the species 
might ascend. Let me add if these things were done under 
Paganism, and in days of darkness, what may not be ex- 
pected under the power and light of the Christian dispen- 
sation, art, policy, faith, worship abounding, and mankind 
indisputably gravitating towards that perfectibility of which 
it is rationally susceptible in religion and government ; 
and as the monarchical system has been perfected in us, 
why may not an American say the republican form shall 
be ultimately perfected, and may direct his own affairs by 
election and not by any hereditary arrangement, which 
implies weakness, and is defective in that liberty which is 
the gift of God and nature ; and maintain that although 
an hereditary monarchy may be a good institution, it is by 
no means better or more sacred than other good political 
institutions, for government is but a national association 
acting on the principles of society. 



230 



On Letters representing Numerals. 

As letters have subserved the purposes of numerals I 
here shew how they are applied. 

Having possessed the benefit of Arabic numerals in 
modern times, it appears surprising that the ingenuity of 
no European nation rose to the discovery of a more com- 
pendious method of calculation than that supplied by sub- 
stituting letters for figures. A lthough printing is ingenious, 
it is nothing compared with the invention of letters. The 
invention of the art of printing seems to have been on the 
eve of discovery, if we observe the letters impressed on some 
loaves of bread disinterred from Pompeii or Herculaneum, 
and which are still to be seen in the Museum at Naples. 
Yet this almost obvious means of transferring letters to 
types, and fixing them on any substance capable of receiving 
impression did escape their observation, and it was left for 
the fifteenth century to develop this universal advantage 
of printing, which has been termed intellect embalmed in 
type, ars omnium conservatrix, and brain preserved in ink. 
Now printing was not so essential to social happiness, and 
to that central idea of life, which is interest and ease, as the 
discovery of something simple, whereby the ever-recurring 
affairs of life might be accurately conducted. There must 
have been great difficulty in making computations of any 
magnitude through the medium of letters, and its inaccu- 
racy is recognized and felt when in authors anterior to 
this discovery we read of numbers slain in battles, or in- 
deed any where in which multitudes are represented by 
literal symbols. A new edifice was to be raised, and time 
is man's architect, and to it we are indebted for supplying 
a necessity. The complex and operose process of counting 
by letters, and the cumbersome alphabet was followed by 
the graceful Arabic numeral, which is said to have been 



231 

introduced through Spain to the rest of Europe, when the 
Moors possessed part of that peninsula, about the 11th 
century, and to have been in use time out of mind in India, 
but it is not improbable that an alphabetical notation pre- 
ceded numerals, the simple and most perfect of inventions. 
But it does not occur in England until a century later, 
and its adoption is owing to one John of Halifax, whose 
classic appellative was Sacro Bosco. Calculation is deemed 
to be verity itself, and can not err, — but many a liber Veri- 
tatis may prove only to be a book of folly. For facility va- 
rious expedients have been adopted to perform arithmetical 
operations. The calculus or pebble was one ; ^^oc ; hence 
we get the name Calculation, ancients and moderns have 
used a board for like purposes, styled by them a/3a£. This 
table was divided from the right to the left hand by vertical 
columns, in which calculi were placed to denote decimals, 
and which were subsequently supplanted by tali or dice, 
and took the name of bench or bank. Scaccarium is a 
chess-board, and is chequered with lines, hence our term 
exchequer. It is curious to analyse the letters which were 
made to represent numbers. 00 and CIO, or M, repre- 
sents 1000. 1 I i which is a sort of M reversed when 
mutilated, comes into -I, or D, which is dimidium, or half 
of mille, and so stands for 500. The word miles, a soldier, 
is no other than mille, being one of a band of that number : 
as a Centurion was Captain of 100 men. C is the circle 
O for 100, and L is half of the circle O, and exhibits the 
number 50. 

Letters are used in algebra, and if we rind them intro- 
duced before algebra commences it shews that letters and 
numbers belong to the s<une language; the premature in- 
troduction of letters will then excite curiosity and stimu- 
late inquiry. Geometers proved that circles are in duplicate 
ratio of each other, that is they are to each as the squares 
of their diameters. Dr. Johnson says that a cypher is an 



232 

arithmetical mark which standing by itself signifies nothing, 
but in apposition increases the value of the other figures — 
now the cypher is a character, in value 10.. The ancients 
found it impossible to transact business and keep records 
of property by units, so a series of characters was therefore 
invented comprehending all antecedent characters. This 
was an improvement, but inadequate to the purposes of 
science and the concerns of increasing commerce, the ab- 
breviation of powers was therefore limited to 10, and all the 
subordinate characters were considered as parts, and used as 
indices to the circle or whole — which circle was placed over 
the second figure, as are now placed £. s. d. — e. g. 6° 7 — 
six circles and seven. Hence arithmetic, in which when 
you multiply fractions you divide, and when you divide 
fractions you multiply, or in other words, multiplication is 
as to the result a real division, division a real multiplica- 
tion. Enunciation and decomposition are confounded by 
arithmeticians, for when they enunciate 37*5 they say 
thirty-seven integers five-tenths — but this in truth is a de- 
composition. If they mean to enunciate they ought to say 
three hundred seventy-five tenths. The origin and inven- 
tion of arithmetic, says Chambers, in his Cyclopaedia, are 
unknown. How came we then by the term digit ? — our 
fingers taught us this, hence the fingers doubled gave us 
the decad — and the decimal calculation, consonant with 
nature, theory and practice, is the only true system, to which 
it behooves all nations to adhere. Figures might have been 
discovered as early as letters, and they were much more 
indispensable. There is an affinity between characters 
and letters, as A means one. Letters, however, had pri- 
ority, and they were employed for numerals until some- 
thing more or better — something more compendious was 
invented. VI am not certain, but I believe all nations have 
used characters for numerals, although simple strokes would 
seem to precede any thing more complex. 



233 



Anomalies. 



Perhaps I may be allowed to recapitulate here some 
lingual peculiarities to which I have adverted in the body of 
the work, without overlaying the intention I had in giving 
it to the world, which I had not done, had I not thought 
there was room for such a tractate, which would comprise 
the disjecta membra and phenomena of language. 

My opinion has been expressed under ie the chapter on 
the Article" that, the article 6g, 17, 6, was used before nouns 
to mark the gender only, and this before inflection was 
adopted. This may be a speculation, and thus I submit it 
to the learned and ingenuous public to disprove or con- 
firm. (Page 6.) 

r Etg, jiia, kv is not an article, but a numeral, and corre- 
sponds with our one, which is an adjective of number. 
Unus is employed in the same sense, and is proved by the 
phrase, vidi unam adolescentulam. I saw a young woman. 
Mea unius opera, by my own labour. 

The Greek article when employed became an expletive, 
for the real article surely is at the termination of the noun 
in \oy-oq, and in every word in Greek or Latin ending in 
as, es, is, os, us, um. It is only the Sanskrit mode of 
articular termination, as Baan-oh — arrow the, a language 
proved by modern indagators to be analogous to the learned 
languages, so that Van Kennedy in his researches avers 
that the Sanskrit roots in English arc some 300 or 400 ; that 
there arc 4 Sanskrit root-verbs found in the composition 
of 500 or GOO English words, and that we can hardly utter 
a sentence without a Sanskrit root. That the Latin tongue 
is reduced to some S00 words from which the whole lan- 
guage has been built up, half of which may be traced to 
the Greek, and the rest to the Sanskrit, Phoenician, and 



234 

Hebrew. There are also 208 Sanskrit roots in Greek which 
are not in Latin, 188 in Latin and not in Greek. And 
out of 900 Sanskrit words in Greek, Latin, and Teutonic, 
there are 265 Persian, 83 Zend, 251 English; and he 
allots 339 to the Greek, 319 to the Latin, 162 to the 
German, leaving 80 for the remaining Teutonic tongues. 

The Latin "being a more elliptic tongue than Greek did 
not require the article as a prefix, hence Dominus is not a 
pure substantive, but a concrete, because it coalesces with 
the article og which gives its meaning, and the same oc is 
the relative pronoun, as avrog ecrrtv 6v Xeyeig avOptonov. 
Hie vir est quern dicis. Here is an affinity between the 
two learned languages equivalent to the Attic where 6v is 
governed by Xtyeig. (Pages 7, 81.) 

Respecting cases the Greek absolute is the genitive, and 
the Latin absolute is the ablative, called absolute because 
the preposition was omitted. (Page 133.) All cases may 
be put absolutely. There are but two cases in reality, the 
dative and ablative are the same and the nominative is no 
case, as the peripatetics held, and likened the noun in this 
its primary and original form to a perpendicular line — 
hence the TTToxretg, or casus, or fallings. The oblique cases 
termed irXayiai tttwguq, sidelong fallings. 

Respecting verbs the chapters on them may suffice, 
though I recapitulate here that in verbs the analogy is the 
same, the difference being in the variety of tenses — and 
that tense does not mean time, but is the contraction of a 
phrase, containing subject, copula, and predicate. 

In the phrase " Allv apiaTtvuv, kcl\ virdpoyov Ipfjievat 
aAXwv," which is a proud motto to write on books, or to have 
ever before one in a social, intellectual, or religious view, 
viz. : always to fight like Ares, or Mars, and be superior 
to others ; here grammarians say, that ^ij is understood, 
but that is erroneous, it stands on its own basis, and it is 



235 

primitive diction and found in all the elder writers of an- 
tiquity. 

I have observed that there is and can he but one part of 
speech, the noun, and that to be, ESSE, is the verbal noun, 
one mood the infinitive, which is a noun, and is used in all 
languages as a substantive, as le boirera French, far niente 
in Italian, das schlafen in German ; and that there is an 
affinity between the infinitive moods and the aorists, deriving 
from words indicating, infinitive, aopiarog, aopog. Now the 
uv of the infinitive is only dvai which derives from el/ui, eco, 
Cj, to go. And the re in Latin infinitives I think to be re 
in reality, as ire, go in reality ; Sic et tu facere, go and do 
likewise. All aboriginal languages were undeclined, and 
no root has more than three letters. (Page 12.) 

There are instances in the learned languages of the 
infinitive mood being substituted for many tenses. Moods 
are only manners of being, and tenses abbreviations of 
sentences, "HAu&c £k iroXifia tl-c w^fAec avroO' oXsaOai. 
Thou hast returned from battle, would thou hadst perished 
there. (Page 11.) 

The primitive verb sum, written esum derives from ew, 
w. Sumus is Iv/iev, and m means multitude — asmi sum, 
and nt means number. The Latin fore is derived from 
(pvu), gignor — hvy they — and huynt is they in Welsh, while 
in Sanskrit anti is they, whence ant, ent, unti 

The pronoun ego is from twor the latter from it, for all 
the persons of the verb substantive in Shemitic languages 
are both pronouns and verbs, and signify Being. (Page 88.) 

In Boeotia, one of the oldest of the Grecian divisions, ego 
was expressed by lo, hence Ka-io I burn, Uro, and so with 
all the Greek verbs deriving from Sanskrit, which illus- 
trates Greek etymology — for asmi, sum is the basis of the 
Indo-European tongues, found in the Persian hastam, 
shunt, Greek i<rpi, Sclavonic jesmi, Lithuanian asmi, Mceso- 



236 

gothic im, and the verb substantive in all these is obvious, 
the further we advance the more the identity comes out in 
bold relief, for as notes incipient existence ; iw is written 
Ionic for w, and all the same as hfii, which is iEolic Greek, 
that being the most ancient form. 

This auxiliary verb is like the iEolic digamma, (of an un- 
usually long range,,) recognised in Ii/ull eo, and irijui mitto, 
lefiai cupio, r)fiat sedeo, &c. — ujxi indicating sum, which is 
demonstrated in the Port Royal Greek Grammar, a work 
where the substratum of language is illustrated by copious 
citations. 

The Greeks in their struggles with language and distinct 
words felt the want of etymology as an adjunct indispen- 
sable to correct ideas on the subject, and yet it is sur- 
prising how little account they took of such subsidiary 
aids. 

Homer in his Iliad, Z. v. 168, only once mentions or hints 
aught about writing — for in no other part does a written 
missive appear (if this citation be even one) to be sent by 
any one of the champions of Greece or Troy. It seems as 
if all antiquity concurred in making no mention of this 
wonderful art, for though printing is ingenious it is nothing 
compared with the invention of letters. (Page 230.) 

Nothing in the Sanskrit hymns, or in all Sanskrit 
literature gives allusion or remote intimation relative to 
writing, or even writing materials. The Greeks must have 
used papyrus as they were in constant intercourse com- 
mercially with Egypt, of whom they were indeed a colony, 
while all other permanent and frequent means of writing, 
as on leather, hides or felts, or tablets of bronze were too 
expensive and too cumbersome. 

The Cratylus of Plato, which is a dialogue on the recti- 
tude of names, evinces how little the then philosophers 
knew of philology, and the futile suggestions of the author 



237 

on verbal • derivations would seem to deduct from his 
generally acknowledged intellectual supremacy. Some say 
his wish was only to investigate names philosophically, but 
as for etymology, that he despised, facetiously ridiculing 
Heraclitus, of whom Cratylus was a follower, who con- 
sidered all things as perpetually flowing, without admitting 
any period of repose in continual generation. This essay 
of the author Plato is however a very noble performance, 
the scope of which is to exhibit in things the prolific energy 
of souls, and the assimilative power, which essentially re- 
ceiving, they evince through the rectitude of names, as 
Taylor, his translator, teaches. 

Still it must be admitted that knowing no foreign, or 
barbarous tongue, he could not ascend to the fount of 
language, neither had he, nor Aristotle, any idea how com- 
pletely factitious was their own elaborated speech, once as 
simple and barbarous as the Scythian. It passed through 
its phases, neither did the Attic dialect come into vogue and 
ascendance anterior to B.C. 400, and was considered then 
the common Hellenic dialect, and the standard of purity, 
though it is really corrupt, if corruption is measured by its 
divergence from primitive roots and diction. Mr. Knight 
observes, that besides the changes, inflections, and ortho- 
graphy, the articles, particles, and prepositions have been 
frequently omitted, transferred, and inserted to the detri- 
ment of metre and critical nicety of expression, although 
the sense was rarely altered. 

Not only Plato, but Xenophon, Arrian, and Marcus An- 
toninus felt and admitted how useful to ethic science and 
knowledge in general would be a grammatical disquisition 
on the etymology and meaning of words. Nothing has 
produced greater confusion than that fatal turn in the 
Greeks of reducing every unknown term to some word 
with which they were better acquainted; they formed 



238 

every thing from their own idiom, and full of illusions, 
they made every nation speak the language of Greece, 
ignoring the fact that their language, mythology, and 
rites were chiefly borrowed from Egypt. 

Although I have adduced instances many, of lingual 
anomalies within the scope of former pages, I thought I 
might separately interweave here some proofs which have 
not appeared, as an appendix to the Chapter on Language 
and the power of literal symbols, to illustrate speech, the 
principal object of this tractate, and I would fain hope 
that the space assigned to these citations may not be 
deemed irrelevant or misplaced, at the risk even of some 
reiteration. 

Nomenclature of Science constitutes the terms of any 
particular art, and may be almost called the art itself, to 
be well acquainted with which advances the student rapidly 
in his pursuits ; as in Geometry, definitions, postulates, 
axioms ; in Logic, subject, predicate, copula, moods, syllo- 
gisms, definition or description, division, notation or 
etymology, conjugation, genus, species, similitude, dissimi- 
litude, contrary, opposite, comparison, cause, effects, ad- 
junct, antecedent, consequent ; in Oratory, exordium, 
narration, confirmation, proposition, confutation, perora- 
tion. Under Parallelism, correlation, antithesis, gradation, 
simile^ ellipsis, repetition, alliteration, accommodation, 
rhyme. In Sciences, theology, ontology, or metaphysics, phy- 
sics, ethics, internal or liberal arts, grammar, arithmetic, 
geometry, astronomy, rhetoric, logic, magic, mechanism. 

Syntax is divisible into concord and grammar. Inflec- 
tion is a creature of institution, and was invented for 
variety of sound and a more concise form of expression. 

Every grammatical accident may be converted into 
another and the sense preserved, number for number, case 
for case, gender for gender, as miser animi, o, um, are all 



239 

equivalent, in fact, analytically considered, the transposi- 
tions of language are incredible, the mode of expression 
depending on the will. 

Almost every number, case, degree, tense and mood, 
each is used for the other in prose or verse, plural for 
singular, dual for plural, and vice versa, substantive for 
adjective, and all cases for each other, relative for recipro- 
cal and inversely, passive for active and inversely, indica- 
tive for optative mood, infinitive mood used substantively 
and for all tenses, while aorists as the name implies, are 
used in every tense and in present, past and future time. 
Genders are com mutable, antecedent and relative in 
some cases by attraction. 

The figure by which most of this transformation takes 
place is styled enallage, as common in speech as hyper- 
bole, and all these varieties are found in the best authors, 
confirming the Horatian canons — Usus, quern, penes, &c. 
Technicality has no influence as to the sense of the author, 
while composition is universal and not particular. 

Grecisms are so common in Latin that without the 
Greek, Latin could not be explicated : " Graeci quibus est 
nihil negatum," and the anomalies of this tongue have 
been adopted by the Latins. (Page 32.) 

Cscsardicitur venturus forvcnturum esse in the accusative 
case. Cupio esse clcmens ; and the figure syllepsis is very 
usual in Latin by which words in a sentence differ in gen- 
der, number or tense, as Verbura qui est Alius Dei, where 
the meaning is discerned by the sense and not the gram mar. 
Desine quserelorum, vacuus irae for ab ira. Dives equum, 
pictai vestis, &c. Thus the genitive; in Greek is a constant 
equivalent to the ablative in Latin. Major omnium for ex 
omnibus. idere doctus for videri doctum, dixit 

daturus for datum m. Licet vobis esse beatis for vos i 
beatos. Tibi expedit esse bono for bonum. Hocetmihi 
docto for doctum. 



240 

The Latins affected the Greek construction in prefer- 
ence to their own, at least, we find it so in Horace, and all 
the writers of the Augustan age. 

Egeo librorum quorum habeo, a Grecism shewing ana- 
logy. The Greeks and Latins cannot omit the relative, 
but the English can ; xptojuai &i£\ioig 6ig ex^, where the 
relative is attracted by the substantive. 

Dignus aliquid amoris, for amari ; verbs are neither 
active nor passive, they are in a state of rest, and what 
is meant by the active and passive voice is a mere gram- 
matical fiction, importing no more than the natural and 
inverted form of the subject and object, introduced for 
variety, and this remark extends from the primeval lan- 
guage of man to every dialect spoken. (Page 59.) 

Sanctus olia id genus alia, for ejus generis alia. Est locus 
in carcere quod Tullianum appellatur, where quod agrees 
with Tullianum and not with locus, the subsequent instead 
of the antecedent. Parum habet consul creatus esse, for 
'se creatum esse. Multi putantur venturi esse, for se esse 
venturos. Apponendum est olentium herbarum, for olentes 
herbas. Olet unguenta. Lassus maris, plenus curarum, 
dives agri, all Grecisms. 

Quo leto censes me ut peream potissimum, for ego. 
Qui pote, how can that be ? Qua pote lucet, by which power 
it shines, is the motto of Smyth of Essex. Potis and 
pote are of all genders answering to Svvarov in Greek. 

An accusative is put for the nominative in, Ilium ut 
vivat, for ille. Patrem vellem viveret tibi, for pater. Non te 
latet, for tibi. Res cibi equivalent to cibus, res laboris 
voluptatum ; dominetur piscium maris, let them rule over 
the fishes of the sea. Reguavit populorum, he lorded it over 
the nations, in Horace. Tempus desistere pugnse, for 
desistendi a pugna. Captae prohibere nequiret. Cum 
Paenos aquilae for aquila. Justitias ne prius mirer bellive 



241 

laborum Virgil. Utor hanc rem. Mea utantur sine, for 
meis. Nunc dierum. Sat temporis, in star montis ; where 
the substantive has a genitive after it : it is to be con- 
sidered a substantive by analogy. 

Partem virorum ceciderunt. Partem vescuntur lacte 
et melle, in Caesar, where the accusative is used for the 
nominative. Again the genitive is substituted for the 
ablative, viz., nullius fidei. 

The Latins borrowed the genitive and dative from the 
Greeks, having only two cases, accusative and ablative. 
There are but two cases in reality, the dative and ablative 
l)eing the same, and the nominative is no case ; it is the 
substantive uninflected, and may be used without a verb, 
as, the Lord he is God. The prophets, where are they ? 
Case means accidents, and accident proceeds from neces- 
sity, (see Case, p. 132). Analogy was not consulted when 
authors made the plural noun and the singular verb ter- 
minate alike, but custom has determined otherwise because 
the concurrence of ss is unpleasant, as horses runs, and by 
this it is more agreeable to the auricular organ. 

Suo sibi gladio hunc jugulo where sibi is the Grecism. 
Implentur veteris Bacchi, where there is a genitive for an 
ablative. Eo vsenui, I am going to market, for ad vsenum. 
Major, maximus omnium, for omnibus. An adjective 
which is put with two substantives should agree with the 
principal, but this is not so always. 

Yldvra vTroTCKTvtTai Gey every thing is subservient to the 
Deity. The plural in Greek expresses a universal dis- 
tributive. 

Nouns neuter, masculine and feminine, when they ex- 
press an individual unity arc accompanied by the verb in 
the singular to denote that unity. 

Amantium ine amoris redintegratio est. Where est is 
singular after the plural irrc, for the renewal of love can 

R 



242 

not be said to be the quarrel of lovers, therefore redin- 
tegratio must be the predicate. Pectus quoque robora 
fiunt, plural verb to a singular noun, multitudo gaudent, 
omnis terra venerunt in iEgyptum. " Pars gladios stringunt 
manibus, par missile ferrum, Corripuint ;" Pars cseci, where 
Virgil has disregarded an important rule of Syntax to ex- 
press himself naturally and elegantly. To appreciate the 
metamorphosis of letters, words, tenses, and dialects, in 
Greek also, the essay on the Greek alphabet of Payne 
Knight should be consulted. 

The Greek word Anagram is one, by the transposition 
of which another word can be formed, a conceit, called also 
a divination by letters, of which Greeks and Latins were 
cognisant, and its invention was referred to Lycophron, 
and perhaps he deserves the merit who has written the 
darkest poem in literature, Cassandra; yet, darkness is 
among the sources of the sublime. 

The extension of the principle seems to be applicable to 
phrases or verses which backwards and forwards are still 
the same. To find a word like Anna is not so difficult, but 
to exercise ingenuity in framing entire lines which read the 
same both ways is a curiosa felicitas. This labor ineptiarum 
has been classified by the collectors of mots under Anagram, 
and it is traditional that Sotades invented the puerility ; 
hence certain lines elaborated and eliminated may be turned 
inside out like lace or tapestry, being however the same in 
sense and sound. It is said that men of letters love those 
•they amuse, as travellers love those they astonish. As these 
literary vagaries are rare I annex specimens, which may be 
comprised under the phenomena of language. 

Signa te, signa, temere me tangis et angis 

Roma tibi subito motibus ibit amor 

Si bene te tua laus taxat sua laute tenebis, 

Sola medere pede, ede perede malos. 



243 

Such is the affinity between Latin and Italian and Latin 
and Spanish that pure lines have been produced which are 
of either tongue, but with infinite labour. A literary man 
however is like a silkworm employed and wrapped up in 
his own work, and unravels apparent impossibilities. 

When language becomes an object of taste, exuberance 
of diction is applied to purposes of elegance and dissemina- 
tion. If defective in variety the tongue is equally elegant, 
and words may be used in construction one with the other. 
In epistolary correspondence, in public harangues, in 
answer to ambassadors in which the Romans evinced great 
elegance and dignity, and in composition from the press all 
transgressions merit censure, and the presumption that the 
public will pardon negligence on the plea of inattention to 
things more than words is not tenable. 

The following instances of violation of the laws of hex- 
ameter metre are chiefly from Virgil, and yet are in ac- 
cordance with certain usages of prosody, and evince the 
skill, taste, and ear of the poets, that the sound should 
seem an echo to the sense ; and it shews that what have 
been laid down for canons and laws of prosody are not so, 
any more than the numerous rules to which grammarians 
have restricted grammar, while the force of habitual ex- 
pression is the sole apology which can be admitted for the 
violation of the laws of concord, confined to familiar inter- 
course. 



R 2 



244 



Metrical Irregularities. 

Adversi longa transverberat abiete pectus. 
Altius ingreditur et mollia crura reponit 
Brontesque Steropesque et nudus membra Pyracmon. 
Cara Deum soboles magnum Jovis incrementum 
Emicat Euryaliis et munere victor amici. 
Et succus pecori, et lac subducitur agnis 
iEquus uterque labor seque juvenemque magistri 
Ferte citi ferrum, date tela, scandite muros. 
Fliiviorum rex Eridanus campos que per omnes. 
Genua labant gelidus concrevit frigore sanguis 
Hie latus niveum molli fultus hyacinthi 
Ille autem paribus quas fulgere cernis in armis. 
Insulee Ionio in magno quas Diva Celseno, 
Italiam fato profugus Lavmia que venit. 
Limina que laurusque Dei totusque moveri. 
Miscueruntque herbas et non innoxia verba 
Occulta spolia et plures de pace triumphos. 
Ostentans artem pariter arcumque tonantem 
Parietibus textum csecis iter ancipitemque 
Eeligione patrum mullos servata per annos. 
Troas reliqiiias Danaum atque immitis Achillei, 
Vellera que ut foliis despectant tenuia Seres 
Victor apud rapidum Simoenta sub Ilio alto. 

Poetry is called tbe language of the Gods, and Pro- 
metheus is said in fable to have been severely punished for 
imparting the blessing to humanity. Mr. Bryant considers 
this appellative the same as Deucalion, which he interprets 
Noah, and with him commenced Gentile history ; and 
that the ark was looked on as the womb of nature, and the 
descent from it as the birth of the world, the ultimate 



245 

whence all things were to be deduced, as law, religion, 
justice, and the seven Noachic precepts which obtained in 
ethnic nations. The ancients were generally materialists 
and thought the world eternal, and that its mundane part 
began with the ark or Theba. The serpent too was em- 
blematical of immortality from its annually casting its skin, 
which is supposed to renew life from a state of inactivity. 
Eusebius says the ancients called Prometheus, JVoah, vsv, 
or wisdom, who raised the first altar to Heaven and con- 
structed the first ship and transmitted useful inventions. 

Ylacrat rkyyai fiporolcFiv Ik Tlpo/uiriOaiog. JEschylus, Prom. 
v. 504. So that Prometheus was styled Noi>e and roig 
avOpwTToig 6 Nouc, which may mean Noos, Noah, from 
whom both time and things were deduced. 

In the grandest of the old myths (all of which were 
derived from the flood, and Noah the avawavaig, or emblem 
of peace, so the dove became a sacred symbol, and was so 
acknowledged in the purest worship, the sacred Ogdoas of 
the Egyptians or the eight persons of the ark), this 
demigod, who taught letters and arts to man, was doomed 
to expiate the offence by a fearful agony, being rivetted in 
adamantine chains to the beetling precipice by the agency 
of the demons, Strength and Force. The winged hound 
of Jove, the eagle self-called to a daily feast still wheeled 
down to his prey, still fiercely tore and battened on the 
flesh of Prometheus. Allegories were brought to perfection 
by the ancients, and virtues and vices were personified to 
signify their several subjects, and in this human nature is 
represented by an emblem, as Bacon expounds in the 26th 
Chapter, De sapientia veterum. 

Of such high consideration w r as speech in the contem- 
plation of philosophers ; hence I have drawn into a focus, 
independent of what is diffused through the tractate where 
every anomaly is displayed, some further examples to shew 
how closely the lloman pupil followed the Grecian pre- 



246 

ceptor, and although the latter subverted or set at defiance 
the laws of grammar, yet the beauties of their mutations 
were so apposite that the Latins were seduced, and they in- 
corporated anomalies into their own phraseology " from 
the bard of Scio's rocky isle/' the reputed father of poetry, 
ethics and theology, and from others, at once enriching and 
embellishing a diction which was the perfect offspring of 
that polished nation, whose philosophers, poets, and heroes 
were led by the light of the Moeonian star. 



On Philology and Letters. 

Sciences, like plants, each have their particular sphere. 
Philology is the science of characters, articulations, terms, 
and propositions. Characters, as a, b, c. Articulations, as 
al-ter, e-vil. Terms, as man, tree ; propositions, as virtue 
is amiable. 

Richard Johnson, a famous grammarian says, grammar is 
the art of expressing the relation of things in construction 
with due accent in speaking and orthography, according 
to the custom of those whose language we learn ; had he 
said of words instead of things and quantity not accent, 
which is an ancient art now lost, the definition had been 
good and acceptable. Accent raises or lowers a syllable in 
pronouncing it, the acute sharpens, the grave acts con- 
trariwise and depresses, while a circumflex both blunts 
and sharpens. With the Greeks these risings and sinkings 
were independent on quantity and yet were used with 
quantity. 

A vowel is a letter and must be the sign of a sound, and 
not the sound itself. It is not a simple articulate sound 
formed by the impulse of the voice and opening of the 
mouth, (page 6.) 

In Chinese and Hebrew all words begin with a conso- 



247 

nant, so that verbs may be termed consonants, for they 
are part of a system wholly conventional, and the latest 
improvement in letter. All letters were significant as 
symbols and sounds. A and b were prefixed, to words, 
and sometimes inserted in the middle of words by ancient 
writers, (pages 120-163.) 

A means motive, as a- do. B means dwelling, or inhabi- 
tation, as b-sprinkle ; and also motion as b-gone, b-cause ; 
but like a, the learned now dispense with their services. 
C means cause ; D is symbolical, and t is derivative from 
it, while d also means completion, as love-d, and is cognate 
with t, as bende-d, bent. E implies energy, ence is comm- 
encement. End is propagation of the energy, eke, eac, 
increase, identity. H implies exaltation and continuation 
as hend, hand. Ion is progress, while I means indefinite 
extent. L indicates length. M might. N production, 
and O individuality. R means motion, while S notes 
existence. 

The grave letters are b, d, g. Acute, c, d, k, t. Aspi- 
rates, f, h, s, w, z. Double letters, c, j, g, u, w, x. C is s 
and j is dz. G is u and yu. W is two o's. X is xi. 

Impure letters are c, d, e, f, g, h, ph, u, w, y, z. G or 
j is d impure. C is t impure. H is e impure. Y is i im- 
pure. U is y impure ; and Wisuu impure. 

C as cent, city, char, chevy, clove, clean, sacrifice. D as 
verdure. E ewe, eunuch. F as if. G as grandeur. H 
as hero, he. Ph as phial. U as use, union. "W as wise» 
worse. Y as ye, yes. Z as chintz, fitz. 

I shall briefly notice here the power of the vowels, and 
how each is used for the other. Vowels are all inter- 
changeable in English, and were mostly so in the learned 
languages. This application is more fully developed in 
the chapter on the figures and powers of literal symbols. 
(p. 199.) 

A is a diphthong composed of o and i, and it takes many 



248 

sounds, as bat. Many comes into meny, with e, so do 
quay, flay, Thames. Comes into awl in ball, fall ; into o, 
as what, quash, quantity, wasp, yatch. 

E a compound of a and i. It comes into a in where, 
weight, freight, and before r into a as, servant, harte, mer- 
chant, but now observed chiefly in proper names, as Derby, 
Berkeley, &c. It comes into i as pretty, England, engine, 
into o as shew, sew, strew. 

I glides into e, as virgin, virtue, mirth ; and into double 
ee, as shire, and in oblige, now emitted with the i according 
to its orthography, I used to lapse into a in sirrah, pro- 
nounced sarrah. 

O naturally declines into double oo, as prove, move, 
bosom ; into a as ought, into au as broth, froth ; into i as 
women ; and into u, as conduit, Monday, company, govern. 
In some proper names, as Pole, Coke, Broke, Brome, &c, 
the o is -always sounded double 00. 

U naturally declines into oo, as bull, pulpit, put, cushion ; 
into e as bury ; into i as business, busy ; into eu as tube, 
duty, cubit : though the double o in these words is often 
retained. 

Y associates with i, and is almost identical, as thyme, 
chyme. It assumes the sound of ee in vanity, phylactery, 
panegyric. It was prefixed to words as ylike, and was used 
for I, the pronoun. Y dwell, as Y can. 

The impure vowels h, y, w, and sometimes e, o, u, occa- 
sionally require a not an before them. 

Dr. Lowth says that a becomes an before a vowel, the 
letters y and w excepted, and before a silent h preceding a 
vowel. But a becomes an before a pure vocal power and 
when vowels lapse into aspiration, a is used. 

When words begin with an aspirate a must be used, as 
a house, a horse. So in the aspirated words, ewe, Euro- 
pean, union ; a is used with others but not always. 

A is used before h mute if the word commences in sound 



249 

with the power of y. Ex. : a human being, a humourous 
man, humoursome child. 

A is used before h aspirated when the word is accented 
on the first syllable, as a hundred, a hermit, a hero, a habit, 
a history. 

An is used before vowels and h mute ; and h aspirate 
when the word is not accented. Ex. : an angel, engine, 
inn, empire, oven, honour, hospital, historian. 

When the ictus or accent falls on the second, third, or 
fourth syllable of a word beginning with h aspirate, an is 
used for a. Ex. : an historian, heresiarch, hexameter, her- 
maphrodite, and generally before all vowels, but not with 
words beginning with u, or a coalition of letters equivalent 
to it in sound, as ewe, eunuch, union. 

Between w or u, a labial or palatine closing the syllable, 
a is sounded or emitted like au. Ex. : wan, quart, quality, 
quantity, so it is pronounced awe before a double* palatine 
closing the syllable, as alder, altar, also. And it takes the 
same sound as quality in wamble, wabble, wapentake (whose 
derivation is weapon-take), want, waft, wrath, wrap, what, 
wather, &c. But if the 1 is separated and single, a had a 
sound like ah, as, altitude, alternate ; but the more ana- 
logical sound of al-ternate, not all-ternate, is preferable. 

A is emitted ay when it terminates a syllable with the 
accent on it, or is opened by the final <?, as able, care, ware, 
waver, wafer, &c. 

C is t impure ; and Murray in his Grammar says it is 
superfluous in both its sounds, the one expressed by k and 
the other by s. But we ask how is c sounded in church, 
clove, sacrifice, ostrich? are there not more than two 
sounds in c ? There is c like s in cent, cinder, city ; like 
z in sacrifice, suffice ; like k in can, cot, cut ; like g in 
sanction, unction ; like t in clove, clean ; like dz in ostrich, 
Norwich; like ts in church and cherry. 

Ch is impure in catsup, cursorily pronounced ketchup, 



250 

as courtesy in churches. Dr. Johnson says c has but two 
sounds and might be omitted from the language, but it 
preserves to the eye the etymology of words, as face, facies, 
the facet of a diamond. Now this letter, we think, has 
six sounds. Ex. : t in clove, ts in church, dz in ostrich, z in 
sacrifice, s in faces, k in calendar. In fact, as many as a dozen 
sounds may be predicated of c, not one belonging to itself. 

Clepolemus is sounded like Tlepolemus, Clascala in 
Mexico like Tlascala, and so with Cloe. C is an x or 
double cc inverted. C means action, as stick, seek, sicht, 
sight. Ce, ci, ce, si, ti, have the power of sh when preceded 
by the accent and followed by another vowel ; but when 
accented or followed by the secondary accent the vowel 
remains pure. 

Ch sinks into the grave when unaccented, as Norwich, 
Dulwich, "Woolwich, ostrich. What think the chosen 
Judges ?* In orthography, known as phonetic, a kind of 
euphuism, which some purist in spelling proposed for adop- 
tion, and who printed specimens to evince its efficacy and 
adaptation to modern use, but which the world declined to 
receive, these words would be thus written : Houat think 
the tchosen Djeudges ? 

Ch, gh, ph, are often denoted by single letters, so is qu, 
w, and hw has been written for who ; and hohl for whole. 

D impure ought to be marked thus g^ } and impure T 
thus, cc. 

The termination ed becomes acute or assumes the power 
of t after an acute. The original sound of d was a lisp, and 
is so pronounced by the modern Greeks and Spaniards. 
We doubled the d } as the sound tedder for tether, pudder 
for pother, now bother. 

E is an impure letter, as ewe, eunuch. E is also changed 
into o } as streng, strong. The word neither is derived from 
weder in German, (p. 106.) This word is by some speakers 
pronounced as if written with an i contrary to all our 



251 

analogy, for in what pure English word is ei so pronounced? 
The word height is evidently a misspelling, for hight, high. 
In eider down we have a pure German word, and with it its 
native pronunciation, so neither are in point. The word 
sleight should be written slight, from the verb, to toss over 
carelessly, as " the rogues slighted me into the river." — 
Shakspere. These are the only words in our tongue where 
such a pronunciation has been attempted, the vowel e taking 
its own analogy in weight, freight, &c. The soft e in 
neither, as it is ho diphthong, is always sounded by speakers 
of taste, in accordance with usage and which was once the 
unvarying practice of the country ; the word is ne-ither and 
not neither or nither. "What is to become of all words in 
ceive, receive and their derivatives, or ceiling, which should 
be spelt cieling from del, or leisure, eisel and every word 
where e precedes an i ? From uncertain pronunciation 
arise in a great part the various dialects of the same 
country, which however grow fewer as books are multiplied. 
We require softness in vocal emissions rather than strength, 
for our language is constitutionally strong, if it is vainly 
imagined that the violation of all analogy can give vigour 
by the adoption of so coarse and unanalogical sound as i in 
lieu of the soft e. Let us be consistent then, and if i is to 
have its natural power, let it be carried out in whither, 
hither, thither, and in every word where e precedes an i, 
and we should set the American innovators to school in 
abnormal pronunciation and undoubted vulgarism ; risum 
teneatis ? To any chaste ear there can be no doubt, that the 
ancient prolation or utterance should be adopted, neether. 
We repeat here that words like lands have a limit to their 
right, and it is better to leave orthography and pronuncia- 
tion after long possession as they have been transmitted 
than to disturb them by even a better claim, if we would not 
barbarise our speech. Analogy and taste are both violated. 
E, G in the termination eng is mute by the intervention 



252 

of a consonant preceded by a mute guttural — which rec- 
tifies an error in Lindley Murray, (p. 101.) 

When G is guttural or hard, it ought to have something 
to note it ; the same may be said of C, if used for K, as the 
Italians have an h after it, making it k, as chiamare. Gh 
is frequently pronounced like f, says Dr. Walker, as laugh, 
cough, &c, but really gh final is mute. Laugh is pro- 
nounced laffe, whose past tense was formerly written loffe. 
It is the u which assumes the sound of f, and this f lapses 
into v. The aspirated G should not be received for d, nor 
aspirated c for t, as frigid, suet, rich. 

F in of is pronounced ov } and lieutenant is always pro- 
nounced leftenant ; though was once pronounced thof. W, 
F, V, are afined and kin, hence the Russians pronounce w, 
as f in Orlow, Woronzow. The Welsh, descendants of the 
Kelts, write ff, and so did we once at the beginning of 
words, as Ffloyd, Lloyd. So Y is expressed with a single f. 
This is traced to the digamma, which seems to have been 
native with the iEolians, and common to all Greece, a con- 
venient symbol, the substitute for at least half the alphabet 
in the shape of letters and aspirates, and probably existed 
at the Tower of Babel. See my remarks on this letter, 
page 223. : 

H. When a word begins with h y having the accent on 
the second syllable, an is invariably used, as it is before the 
power of a pure vowel ; so is a before a vowel when impure 
and before consonants. 

When H mute begins a word, the application of a and 
an depend on the power of the succeeding vowel. 

Silent H then is regulated by the subsequent vowel, 
which if pure takes an, impure takes a. When a word 
begins with h 3 and is not accented on the initial syllable, 
h is silent, as in heir, hour, honour, herb, hostler, hotel, 
&c. Humour has h silent, and yet does not admit an 
before it. When initial H impels the accented syllable a 



253 

is used, but when the accented syllable falls beyond the 
initial syllable an is indispensable. 

I. The long i is a sound composed of the Italian a and 
our e, which latter is expressed by short i or enunciated ee. 
The dot or pupil might be dropped when it is pronounced 
short, and the pupil over j might be omitted without in- 
convenience as to sound or appearance. / is impure before 
the power of K, ing, ink, &c. I has the power of h when 
preceded by the power of S, and that of y when preceded 
by any other letter. / and E after the accent, and suc- 
ceeded by another vowel, have the power of h when pre- 
ceded by the power of s, but if preceded by any other 
power, they have the power of y, as Persian, nation, coer- 
cion, anxious, Judges. 

/ and E are impure after the accents, when followed by 
another vowel, having the power of H, when preceded by 
the power of s, and that of y, if preceded by any other 
letter. E is the Gothic i } meaning eye — and ive means 
desire, as sportive. 

/ and E preceding a vowel in the same syllable lose their 
power, as nation, nashun, but i and e, preceded by the 
power of s or z, and succeeded by a vowel, with which it 
coalesces, assumes the power of H, as contrition, contri- 
shun — lei-zhure, expo-zhure. 

/ and E succeeded by another vowel in the same sylla- 
ble, and preceded by any other letter, except the power of 
s, assume the power of y, as minion, pavilion, pavil-yun. 

I or E impelling a perfect letter and preceded by the 
power of s however symbolised, assume the essence of h. 
Preceded by other powers, it becomes y as action, ac-shun, 
coer-shun. I in Lybian is pronounced Lib-yan — ruffian, 
ruff-yan, billion, bill-yun. 

In the words medicine, venison, business, diamond, the 
sounds of i and a are omitted in the second syllable, and are 
specimens of the beauty of cursory pronunciation. I was 



254 

sounded by the Latins as y, which power the Germans re- 
serve, Jupiter, Yupiter. 

J, which is equivalent to G, might be written and printed 
without the dot over it, and when i has the power of e 
would it not be advisable to omit the dot or pupil ? 

We use long f and a short s without distinction, might 
we not use the long f between the vowels when it is acute 
and a short s when it is grave ? Were this distinction 
observed by printers we should not be at a loss to pro- 
nounce resign, resolve, when they mean to sign again and 
solve again, and the same words when they mean to give 
up and determine. 

Murray says we do not need the letter j, because the 
soft g in English is sounded the same, but what of James, 
Judah, Joram, &c. ? 

O is a circle, and implies whole, hole, hohl. ' i His eyes 
drouped hole sunken in his hede/ ? Chaucer. O denotes 
entirety and individuality. It is the representative of u 
between w and a consonant, and these words ought to be 
written swoom for swum, swong for swung, and swonk for 
swonken, an obsolete term, to overlabour. O being u 
before a final consonant the pronunciation of o in woman 
is easily traced. U is used as w in quiet, quote ; and as 
double o in rule, ruin, lure ; as a in ought, it comes into i 
as women, into oo as womb, tomb, wolf; and into u as 
come, love, dove. 

Q is always guttural and invariably used before u as 
quaint, quell, quilt. Q and K before n in the same syllable 
are not emitted in modern pronunciation. C is guttural 
before a, o, u, but c assuming the power of s before e, i, 
y, k is used instead of c before these letters. 

K is substituted for s, and in its symbolical significance 
it is motion, as s means existence, but as that which moves 
necessarily exists, R was made the representative of exist- 
ence by the Western world. An inversion of a word and 



255 

a substitute of s for R may be detected in Her, if so her 
is she inverted, (page 94.) Si means her in Gothic, and Seo 
in Teutonic ; w preceding g is lost in it, as wright, write, 
sounded as right and rite. 

S, symbolically denotes existence. Between two vowels 
it expresses the acute power, and s the grave power. Initial 
s being always acute, may continue its present form. If 
two ss come together it is more graceful to sound one, as 
associate, should be pronounced a-sociate ; the same may 
be predicated of double if, efface and double cc occasion, 
which Dr. Walker judiciously observes, (t is a distinguishing 
mark of elegant pronunciation," to which I have before ad- 
verted, (p. 221.) S declines into Z in houses, houzes, on 
account of number. It is acute in yes, this, thus, us in ous 
— and in words derived from the learned languages, C has 
the power of s before e, i, y. Its tendency to sibilation has 
gained for it some reprobation, as well as the sobriquet of 
the Serpent's letter, as Z is called a canine letter, to avoid 
which the Spartans converted it into R, and the Athenians 
into T, and it is often elided in poetry. We commute it for 
th, loves, loveth, but its use in the third person is adverse 
to correct analogy. Th was common to singular and plural 
in all persons though it is now confined to the third person. 
I here repeat a remark made in the body of this Tractate, 
(p. 29) that until some of the learned can assign a substantial 
reason why the third person in the verb is varied, as loves, 
and the rest not, one might plead for the simpler method. 
A little practice would make it familiar, and we should see 
analogy trample over custom, more honoured in the breach 
than the observance. Having made s or es the symbol of 
plurality, was it analogical to symbolise individuality in the 
sui no way? 

In some cases after s, a c should follow and not a k, as in 
skreen, skonce, skull. Walker observes that c, st, arc 
sounded before some vowels like sh, which is contrary to 



256 

English analogy. When the letter s collides with s, or 
even with another consonant, an apostrophe should be 
used, as Atreus' sister, Moses' minister, and indeed 
wherever the two s come together in poetry or prose the 
ear tells us that it is indispensable to omit one s. (p. 134.) 

T being used for mere distinction of sound, has no sym- 
bolical signification. Th becomes grave in the plural as 
bath, bathes, should be pronounced softly, bath-es, almost 
as if the th were omitted. The e is added to s to form the 
plural of substantives when pronunciation requires it. 

The letter T is often reduplicated improperly as bigot- 
ted. The same may be said of other letters. When the 
accent does not fall on the last syllable the consonant 
ought not to be geminated or doubled, as worship, 
worship-ed, libel, libel-ed. This takes place when the first 
letter is immediately preceded by a vowel. Words termi- 
nating in a single consonant having the accent on the last 
syllable, double the last consonant when the word is de- 
clined, as stir, stirrest, fit, fittest, &c. 

U loses half its power in busy, business, busy, &c. This 
vowel was originally printed V, hence it assumes, 

V, acute power in cough, rough, laugh. What we have 
remarked under o is applicable here. 

V in some words is changed for u as Lieu-tenant, pro- 
nounced lef-tenant, which becomes acute before an acute, 
as u assumes the power of f and its derivatives, in cough, 
chough, slough, trough. When li begins a word having the 
accent on the second syllable, the h is mute, or pronounced 
f, as Loughbro, pronounced Luffbro. 

Gh assumes the power of k, as hough, to hock cattle ; 
shough, shock dog ; lough, loch, lake. In some words gh is 
wholly mute, as plough, bough, and now written plow. V 
becomes f on account of tense also, as leave, left ; and f 
becomes v on account of number, as calf, calves, staff, staves, 
wife, wives. 



257 

Dr. Walker has strayed into the devious path in the dis- 
cussion of our palatine characters by the emphatic u, and in 
many words beginning with labials and terminatiug in a 
palatine, as bull, pull, push, bushell, butcher, cushion, 
cuckoo, huzza, for which see under the words, chew, 
chuse, rue, duke, with a numerous catalogue of similar 
vocality, which he condemns. Initial W is styled a conso- 
nant, but with as much reason might the u in languish be 
so called. H and y are no more consonants than e in 
ocean, i in onion, o in one. Initial y is the grave power of 
H, or the aspirate i as i-hung, young. Initial w is the as- 
pirate of u pronounced oo. Initial u, emitted yu is a double 
letter. Initial Y is aspirated i, and it is preceded by a. 
Initial W is impure, and should not be followed by u, 
hence the impropriety of swum, swunk, swung. This w is 
the aspirate of m, being in form m reversed as mine, wine. 
It has a fluctuating property, when w and y are consonants 
and impel another letter, which impulse is characteristic, 
as i-ew, yew, i~oung, young. The same may be said of j 
and v, which were formerly reckoned among the vowels. 

W is elegantly melted away as a liquid in some 
words — no one pronounces would as it is written, nor 
should they pronounce Dulwich and Greenwich as written. 
It is contrary to beauty as well as analogy to pronounce 
knowledge as two words, know and ledge, because it is a prin- 
ciple in English to throw the accent back on compound 
words, hence knolledge is the most correct and agreeable 
emission of sound, and it is to be hoped that no such inno- 
vation will prevail to spoil our language by efforts to make 
orthography and prolation coincide. So I again advisedly 
repeat that words like lands have a limit to their right, but 
established rules arc conventional, and should not be unduly 
contravened. See Walker under the word Knowledge. 

X is a double letter composed of c and c placed in dittc- 



258 

rent aspects. Siccity expresses this letter uncombined. 
X that is k s, loses half its power when initial as Xenophon, 
Xenocrates. 

Z is not a double consonant as is commonly supposed, 
but it has the same relation to s as v has to f, y to h, b to 
p, and d to t, g to k ; s, f, h, p, t, k being acute ; and z, v, 
y, b, d, g being grave. Z ishke y or j in Benzoin, benjoin. 
As initial S is invariably acute, so is z in words requiring 
the grave sound, as Zigzag, Zeno ; and by the initial u as 
union, use. In ewe, &c, the initial e has the same sound 
as y in year, yet the name of consonant to e in this situa- 
tion has^ never been applied, why then should initial y be 
so designated ? 

Y is a vowel, but not pure, so are i, u, e, o. Y and w are 
initial, and are always impure vowels. U, e, o, are also im- 
pure on some occasions, and cannot admit an before them, 
as union, ewe, one. 

The same vowel which we express by the initial y, our 
ancestors in many instances expressed by the vowel e, as 
eower, your, and by the vowel i asiew, yew, i-ong, young. 

In the word yew the initial y has precisely the same 
sound as i in view, lieu, adieu. The i is acknowledged to 
be a vowel in these latter words, how then can the y, which 
has the very same sound possibly be a consonant in the 
former ? 

Its initial sound is generally like i in shire, sheere, from 
to sheer or cut off, so the shore, share, plough-share, cum 
multis aliis. It is formed by opening the mouth without 
any motion or contact of the parts ; in a word it has every 
property of a vowel and not one of a consonant. This said 
Dr. Lowth, in a note in his grammar, but unhappily it is 
subverted by a second note. The learned prelate confounds 
the form with the power of the letter. 

No doubt i y e, w, emitted alone are vowels, but when 



259 

they impel another vowel they are indisputably consonants, 
for if we understand consonant aright, it means any letter 
consonous with another. 

The Romans marked the letters in question I, V, but 
they pronounced them as we do in y and w, the y taking 
the place of i as in jacet, yacet, Jupiter, Yupiter, Ventus, 
Wentus, and thus applied they ranked them among the 
consonants. Some admit them into the rank of conso- 
nants when they impel a subsequent vowel, being con- 
vinced of their consonous power, hence a vowel sounded 
with a consonant, becomes a consonant. 

The distinction of vowel and consonant is a mere gram- 
matical fiction, for all the vowels in Hebrew are conso- 
nants, see page 6. We therefore oppugn the idea that 
consonants are interceptions of vowels, which opinion was 
broached by Savary, and Dr. Johnson inadvertently coun- 
tenanced the mistake. In Chinese, the most ancient 
language in the postdiluvian world, not one interception is 
to be discovered, all words beginning there with a conso- 
nant, in fact all vowels and consonants are one and flow 
together. 

Nature, says Coleridge, seems to have dropped an acid 
into the German tongue which curdled the vowels, and 
made all consonants flow together. The modern German 
resembles the Moeso-Gothic (p. 4), from which all the 
existing northern dialects spring, as the French and its 
cognates derive from Latin, and that tongue in character, 
symbol words and syntax is an easily recognizable daughter 
of Greece, and its parent is Sanskrit, a descendant of some 
fragment of language which arose in the confusion ; as 
there had been a chaos of matter so was there to be a 
chaos of speech. 

No language admits greater variety in tone than the 
English, except that extraordinary language the Chinese, to 
which I have already adverted, page 148. Variety in tone 

s 2 



260 

is partly derived from accent,, and we place the acute ac- 
cent sometimes on the pre-antepenultimate, as necessary, 
favourably. This the Italians do, as sequitano, desiderano, 
and also on the fifth and sixth syllable from the end, as 
portandosenela, desiderandonivice ; we do this elegantly 
in parliamentary, supplementary. But the Italian ex- 
ceeds in this peculiarity, for the Romans and Greeks and 
Hebrews went no farther back (I believe • further implies 
procession and farther retrocession) than the penultimate, 
but the Italian actually throws back the accent to the 
eighth syllable, as seminandovicisene, edificandovicisene, 
which must require effort and tact to accomplish as they do 
it, so we should not bring a prejudicate ear against what is 
consonant to their practice. There is what is termed an 
enclitic accent, so named from ey/cAtpw to incline or fall 
on, that is it falls from its natural position to a place more 
remote, as theology for theology. It was originally used in 
pronouns, which were called leaning or inclining pronouns, 
but here we advert merely to their accentual power and 
attribute, (p. 91.) 

As an essential ingredient in language, definition should 
not be pretermitted, for if the definition be false or ob- 
scure, no art can be thoroughly comprehended. Con- 
summate skill in derivation is the first excellence in a gram- 
marian or philologer, while precision in the definition of 
words, nominal or real, is the second in value and import- 
ance. Logic lays it down that it should be adequate, be 
more clear and obvious than the thing defined, and neither 
too long nor too short. Let definition contain neither the 
thing defined nor a mere synonymous name. I believe it 
is admitted that our great Lexicographer failed occasionally 
in all these requisites. He was ignorant of German, Teu- 
tonic, and the Islandic languages, and although he pos- 
sessed a most logical head and was destined to be the Aris- 
totle of England, yet he was very deficient in taste and 



261 

feeling. Even his biography of the Poets has encountered 
condign animadversion, in which inordinate and unquench- 
able prejudice has been added to want of nice taste and 
feeling quite indispensable for such a national undertaking. 
His best lives are of those he liked best, as Dryden and 
Savage ; the poets Milton and Gray coming under his im- 
mitigable aversion ; while in his stupendous preface to 
Shakspere he has poised the faults and merits so evenly as 
to leave it difficult to say on which side the scale of praise 
or blame preponderates. 

It has been strenuously maintained by the admirers of 
Greek and Latin that modern uninflected language in point 
of expression falls short of polysyllabic tongues. In mo- 
nosyllabic tongues, which are more ancient, every word 
preserves through every circumstance of grammatical ac- 
cident the same force which it possessed in its original. 
Thus what is imputed to simplicity in our ancestors be- 
comes a proof of justness in their feelings, and of con- 
stancy in their nature, and while admirers regard with 
satisfaction the ingenuity displayed in the construction of 
those languages, they do no more in fact than profess a 
predilection of sweetness to force, or dignity of sound, to 
energy of imitation. The English language is composed 
of many monosyllables, and this is a proof of its antiquity, 
and consequently of its energy, words being originally the 
offspring of sensation. 

Salmasius, De re hcllenistica, says truly, "Certum est 
linguas omncs quae monosyllabis constant esse cseteris, an- 
tiquiorcs. Multis abundavit monosyllabis antiqua Grcca, 
cujus vestigia apud poetas, qui antiquitatem aflectarunt, re- 
mansere non pauca." 

We have this advantage from our monosyllables that we 
can express more in fewer words than any language what- 
ever ; and although monosyllables are not so fit for 
numbers, yet that happiness of composition which is pecu- 



262 

liar to English and the Greek tongue, renders our poetry 
as harmonious as that of any nation in the world. 

Mr. Dennis, an excellent judge, says the English is 
more strong, more sounding, more significant, and more 
harmonious than any other tongue. The French cannot 
entertain blank verse, and what verse is equal to that of 
Milton and Shakspere ? Should a selection be made from 
the lofty grave tragedians of Greece, a moderate judge 
could soon find passages of equal splendour for verse as 
well as rhythm in an English iambic or blank measure. 

Let all Greece or Home surpass these aud such lines of 
Shakspere ; even Virgil's oft cited, 

Formosam resonare doces Amaryllida silvas, 
the most melodious line in the iEneid, is not superior to, 

How silver sweet sound lovers' tongues by night, 
Like softest music to attending ears. 

Again — ■ 

Uttering such dulcet and harmonious breath, 
That the rude sea grew civil at her song. 

Shakspere surpasses all the ancients in the harmony of 
his numbers unrestricted by particular feet, to which they 
were confined, although there were numberless infrac- 
tions of the canons of prosody. He pleases not by bringing 
the actions of many years into his plays, though Dr. 
Johnson has extenuated, if not wholly vindicated in his 
preface, his overleaping this law of the drama, where he 
copiously adverts to the mysterious unities. Neither does the 
Bard of Avon delight by his grotesque admixture of tragedy 
and comedy in one piece, which was the vice of the age. 
Nor by the strained thought and affected criticisms which 
he sometimes employs. But he delights by his constant 
adherence to nature, and Pope remarks he is the organ 
of Nature. It was said of Aristotle that he was Nature's 






263 

secretary, and that he dipped his pen in intellect, so of 
our poet in literature he has a name above every name. 

Our tongue is not composed wholly of monosyllables. 
There is a sweetness as well as harmony in verses com- 
posed of monosyllables judiciously and artfully arranged, 
and in some verses the sound arising from monosyllables 
is inimitably expressed, and can not be copied in any poly- 
syllabic diction. We think this will challenge comparison 
with any Homeric verse analogous to it — 

So eagerly the Fiend 
O'er bog, or steep, through strait, rough, dense, or rare, 
With head, hands, wings, or feet pursues his way, 
And swims, or sinks, or wades, or creeps, or flies. 
Again the commencing line of Dryden's translation of the 
iEneid, who observes that Virgil seems to sound a charge, 
and begins with lines replete with the letter It, and the 
vowels for the greater part sonorous, (p. 218.) 

Arms and the man I sing, who forced by fate — 

Another instance of monosyllabic verse is found in 
Creech's Manilius — 

Nor could the world have borne so fierce a flame. 

And, lastly, let me quote Denham's description of the 
silver Thames — 

Tho' deep yet clear, tho' gentle yet not dull, 
Strong without rage, without overflowing full. 

Monosyllabic languages have a decided advantage over 
the polysyllabic in point of perspicuity; monosyllables 
clogged with consonants are the dead weight of our tongue, 
thought Dryden. 

In vocables of one syllable the idea and the word run 
together, and keep each other in countenance, while in 
words of more than one syllable more than one idea is con 
tained under them, and that not being always thoroughly 



264 

understood, is a cause of ignorance, sense being sacrificed to 
sound. We have never submitted to inflection, preferring 
energy to sound, and that is the superior consideration, and 
elevates the English over every tongue or dialect in the 
world. 

It is another marvel accorded to us by the great Dis- 
penser of all Good, that even our language should equal, 
perhaps surpass all others ; and it may be no hyperbole to 
add that we are far advanced in arts ; first in mechanics, 
in arms, wealth, and literature, in general intellect and 
true religion. In a country of between twenty and thirty 
millions of population there must be crimes of deep dye 
and turpitude, still Great Britain, like the Northern star, 
of whose true, fixed, and resting quality there is no fellow 
in the firmament, holds on her course unshaked of motions 
which have shattered or convulsed the world, and is the 
Nestor of nations, bearing the highest moral and political 
rank of all social communities. 



Fragmentary Observations on the French Language. 

The object of this short chapter is to advert to some 
peculiarities in the French language about which treatises 
have been written from early times, that tongue having 
been employed from the epoch of the Norman invasion, 
and even anterior to that period the French was familiar 
at the English court. The incursion of Norman William 
and his adherents, caused the dialects of French soon to 
be incorporated and adopted in Britain, while the frequent 
intermarriages of native Sovereigns with foreign Princesess 
confirmed a predilection for it. These unions were the 
proximate cause of large accessions of strangers visiting 
and settling on our shores, hence we account for the 



265 

numerous foreign surnames recognised in our patronymics 
whose origin by lapse of years have nearly escaped detec- 
tion. Out of twenty-five male Sovereigns who have swayed 
the British sceptre from the accession of William I. to the 
necessary and equitable expulsion of King James II., there 
have been only three who have died unmarried ; ten have 
married native wives, and some who have married wives, 
not French — while twelve English monarchs have espoused 
French princesses ; and from the marriage of William I., 
in 1048, to the death of Henry VI., in 1472, the spouses 
of all our Sovereigns were of French extraction for nearly 
424 years consecutively ; besides the collaterals of the 
Plantagenet race (planta genestse, so called from a broom 
sprig in their caps, from whom descended the families of 
Brome.) The English retained their foreign possessions 
in France, until the loss of Calais, in 1558, which left so 
deep a cicatrix on the tender and impressive Queen Mary, 
that at her death she said Calais would be found engraven 
on her heart. 

For the comfort of Protestant England however this 
meek potentate expired that same year, when she was 
succeeded by her tolerant sister Elizabeth, whose name, 
like that of our present female Sovereign, Britons delight to 
honour. Elizabeth gave countenance to the French 
language, which she added to her other various polyglot 
accomplishments. 

Although the French tongue was not unknown in Eng- 
land anterior to the transference of supreme power to a 
stranger in William I., yet it is notable that from the ac- 
cession of King Egbert, in 819, to the death of Edgar 
Atheling, the last of the Saxon dynasty in 1110, without 
issue, not a single French alliance was contracted by any 
of the Sovereigns who swayed our destinies, save that of a 
second union of Ethelrcd II., with Emma, daughter of 
Richard I., Duke of Normandy, who remarried Canute 
the Great, King of Denmark, and who died in 1052. 



266 

The advent of William here caused a decline in the 
venerable Saxon tongue, for the Courts of England trans- 
acted business in Norman-French so long that the native 
speech was not restored until the 36 Edward III., in 1362, 
to the Courts of Law, still French continued in parliamen- 
tary affairs, nor were the statutes published in it until the 
accession of King Richard III. in 1483. 

Some documents, however, have been' disinterred from 
the accumulated masses of manuscripts, national and 
historical, of which no nation has any more perfect than 
our own ; there is extant an indenture in English, bearing 
date 1483, b but the earliest parliamentary proceedings in 
English are not prior to 1388. 

The Cambrian, or Kymracan tongue, is Welsh or Gaelic, 
and the Walloon, or Galloon, is a dialect. The French, 
like the Castilian, was styled in its infancy the Roman 
tongue, which was the language of the Troubadours ; 
parler-roman, meant speak French, to the days of Charles 
V. of France, in the 14th century. 

The oldest French poem was written about the sera of 
William the Conqueror, whose antecessors were North- 
men from Scandinavia, so it can not be affirmed that the 
French ever conquered England. Normandy is said to be 
the cradle of minstrelsy perfected by her sons of iron who 
wrested that part of France from its weak natives. They 
descended from the extreme north, and they brought with 
them the art acquired from the Scalds, while the language 
gradually declined into what is termed Romance, in which 
dialects the minstrels composed their lays, and all that 
resounds in fable and romance, for their history, laws, and 
religion, like most primitive people, were expressed in 
verse. The Troubadours were identified, in character and 
spirit, with our Welsh harpers, temp. Edward I., and with 
the Gaelic bagpipers ; and from these sprung the later 
Improvisator -e of Italy, whose genuine successors are the 
players and musicians of our days . 



267 

Their credit lasted long, and robust was their frame and 
fame, until they degraded themselves by licentiousness, 
and were suppressed, like the Knights Templars, and sub- 
sequently the Jesuits, who, for their inordinate arrogance, 
have been at various times expelled all Europe (even from 
Rome, the capital of Popery, in 1773?) from the time of 
their suggesting to Chatel to assassinate King Henry IV. 
of "France in 1594, he confessing that those fathers were 
the instigators of the crime, until their late expulsion from 
every Romanist state in Europe, when they at last found 
refuge in .the Protestant realm of Frederic the Great of 
Prussia, much to his credit both on the principles of 
humanity and Christian injunction, " Love one another ." 
This should have been a lesson of toleration, but in what 
Romanist country, under similar circumstances, could Pro- 
testants have found it ? It is grievous to remind Christians 
that even to this day, for it is problematical to say whether 
the laity or the hierarchy of Spain are the most intole- 
rant, that in Spain a Protestant is not even allowed burial 
on earth, or in it, but is taken out to sea and slighted into 
its merciless bowels, there to find sepulture, a burning 
shame to all who call on Christ's name, and at which Pagans 
and Mahomedans would blush and, in exultation, add : 
" Thou can'st not say we did it V It is a great political 
mistake that toleration of religion is not only enjoined but 
enforced as a Law of Nations, and thus true Christianity 
be made to be respected even in heretic Spain. 

The cause of toleration is that of the world, for it has 
gone forth that man shall not be accountable to man, 
dressed in brief authority, for his faith — the sin of intole- 
rance, like ingratitude, is worse than witchcraft. 

To revert, the French of this day derives through the 
Romance tongue, which was corrupt Latin. This corrup- 
tion began early, for in the days of Quintilian he said of 
the people " cxclamasse barbarc." 



- 



268 

This declension continued, and begot Romance or Pro- 
vencal, which dialect became more refined as the Latins 
degenerated, and from being colloquial it took the place of 
a fixed tongue, and into it were Church homilies translated, 
while it attained its perfection about the twelfth century. 

And so it lasted for about 250 years, and from the middle 
of the 14th century it dates its decadence, while the French 
became more cultivated, although there is no standard 
French author anterior to the 17th century. 

Let the French and Italians value themselves on the re- 
gularity of their tongue, we are content that strength and 
elevation should be our countervailing attribute. We are 
irregular and yet we have the truest analogies, though to 
them we do not yield a slavish adherence. 

We were never uniform in our pronunciation, for John 
de Trevisa in 1387 remarks, " Hit semeth a grete wonder 
how Englisch is dyverse of soun in this oon ilond," and 
the regret may be reiterated still, the phonetic expedient 
finding no more countenance for orthography than did of 
old the affected euphuism for expression of sentiment. 

The syntax of French resembles Latin, but the tongue 
owes more to Italian, from which it is immediately derived. 
The French are perhaps the only people who speak with- 
out accent, except an occasional circumflex, pronouncing 
their words with a uniformity that renders their language 
ill adapted for poetry, for where there is no variety there 
can be no continued melody. 

In versification of feet and quantities the French and Ita- 
lian are imperfect, for Malherbe first brought pauses into 
use. They are apparently unaware what feet are to be 
used in heroic poetry ; formerly they had but five feet or 
ten syllables in their heroic verse, but since the days of 
Eonsard, who died 1585, they found their tongue too weak 
to support epic poetry without the addition of another 
foot ; and as Dryden observes this gives the run and mea- 



269 

sure of a trimeter. They have more activity both in per- 
sonal character and poetry than strength ; the nimbleness 
of the greyhound, but not the bulk and vigour of the 
mastiff, while our nation and our verses overbear them by 
their weight, pondere non numero. 

Perhaps the French is unique in the number of its 
mutable syllables, for there are scarce three words together 
in any sentence in which one or two are not at least par- 
tially quiescent. No language whatever is spoken so un- 
like its orthography, and it seems to have been invented 
to prove how dissimilar letters and sound could be. There 
are great inconsistencies in English, but French enun- 
ciation exceeds it, although the mute condition of the 
letters, the anomaly in its prolation once established, is 
recognised, and seldom varies in French ; but in English 
we use different sounds for different vowels and conso- 
nants, which do much involve and perplex foreigners, as 
well as those who are native and to the manner born. 

The French H is nearly always mute, but it is aspirated 
before all the vowels in some words, amounting to some 
140; so said Jean Palsgrave, a Priest and Prebendary of 
St. Paul's, who died in 1554, and who wrote a French 
grammar, temp. Henry VIII., " which was compyled for the 
Ladie Marie of England, his doughter — introductorie for 
to lerne, to rede, to pronounce, and to speke Frenche 
trcwly," to whom it was dedicated in 1530. The first gram- 
mar published in that tongue, although the schools and 
monasteries had their grammars of French also. 

The English II is occasionally dumb at the beginning 
of words, but in Spanish it is never uttered. The double 
LL in Spanish is always liquid, and it is so mostly in French 
when preceded by an i, like brilliant. Some words however 
do not require this liquid sound, as illcgitimc, Chillon, &c., 
though one can sec no reason why the French should not 
follow the norma loquendi of Spanish pronunciation in all 



2?0 

cases. Some words in English assume new import accord- 
ing to the accent thrown, as gallant for brave., gallant for 
polite, and this answers to the position of the adjective be- 
fore the noun in French, (page 124.) 

The nasal ing is used by the Portuguese as well as the 
French, the former taking it from their French connection 
under Henry King of Burgundy, in the eleventh century. 

Many words end in merit in French from the Italian 
mente, which is the word incrementum, increase, and by 
grammarians these words are styled Hemantic ; the gram- 
mar of French resembles the Italian in verbs requiring 
the objective or dative case after them, as plaire aux dames, 
S'approcher du feu, resister a vos desirs, &c. 

De is of or from, and answers to the genitive and abla- 
tive cases ; a answers to the dative, as a lui, and en to the 
accusative. 

In French, whenever the participle perfect is preceded 
by the pure affection, that is the accusative case, the parti- 
ciple is declined, and agrees with the said accusative in 
number and gender, if not the participle is not varied. 
This rule does not hold exactly with Italian or Spanish, 
where the agreement of the participle is less frequent. 

Pure affection, quand ils se sont rendus. Impure, quand 
ils se sont rendu maitres de la ville. The participle con- 
jugated with avoir is declinable when the object precedes 
it, as II les abattus; also when the object is followed im- 
mediately by que ; and when without altering the position 
of the object the verb avoir can be resolved into avoir 
ete. 

It is varied when it has for a subsequent a neuter in the 
infinitive mood, as the object cannot be governed by the 
infinitive mood, but by the participle, as Je lai laisser passer. 
When the participle is followed by que it is indeclinable, 
as elle avait espere que je viendrais. 

In Latin the passive participle is substantiated into a 



271 

noun as, Eo ad eubitum j in jussu parentum abiit. Turpe est 
dictu. So the French offers examples of the same sub- 
stantiation of participles, as Je vais a mon git, a Finscu de 
ses parens. 

The use of what grammarians call apposition is very rare 
in the French tongue, as in Latin, Anna Soror, that is by 
substantives only, because it has an aversion to ellipsis \ 
but either they put one of the nouns in the genitive, as La 
Ville de Rome, or they add a verb, La ville qui est appe- 
lee Rome, or else they add an adjective as Rome, ville ce- 
lebre, and do not say Rome ville, nor do they say, priez 
pour nous pecheurs, but they put the adjectives before 
the substantives, as pauvres, &c. 

They occasionally use ellipsis, as Ouvrez la porte quel- 
qiiun, that is de vous omitted, indeed the pronouns are con- 
tinually repeated in French. 

Participles are often not declined, when we say J'ai trouve 
cette femme Usant, &c, where neither the participle past, 
nor the participle present are varied. La peine que m'a 
donne cette affaire, and not donnee, which participles are 
equal to gerunds. 

The motto of the Order of the Garter is a metaphorical 
idea, for the word honi does not mean evil but by implica- 
tion. 

It used to be a law in reading French and pronouncing 
it, never to let the principal fall on the accessory ; but, un- 
fortunately that law seems be evaded, in cursory pronun- 
ciation and in declaiming, euphonise gratia, but it will spoil 
the language, as the substantive should stand alone, being 
the grand fulcrum of the sentence, tear t£ox»?v, par excel- 
lence, giving majesty and independence, for if every word 
is to be carried into its following word, why should not the 
conjunction et be subjected to the same fate and practice. 
Where the hyphen is employed, it is well to sound the two 
words as if one—M, Champs-Elysees. 



272 

It is the only tongue in existence where words naturally- 
separated are yoked in reading or speaking it, and I think 
it had been equally graceful had it been allowed to follow 
the same law as other speech, and that without any 
loss of euphony, for whose sake even the genders have 
been altered — as mon ame for ma alme, and so with the 
rest. It is carrying deference to sound too far to render a 
language ungrammatical for its sake. There are anomalies 
in most tongues, arising frequently in a desire for va- 
riety. Hence all the changes in Greek and all the innu- 
merable tenses which perplex and scarcely enucleate the 
sense. It is still to be hoped this innovation will not pro- 
ceed so far as to get beyond the reach of recovery, and 
that in the pronunciation of all who have delicate ears and 
just judgment, the final consonant of the substantive may 
never fall on the adjective, and that imbroglio of sense 
and sound may never be predicated of a language which 
is truly graceful, and, ex necessitate rerum, the common 
vehicle of thought between nations in diplomatic and social 
relation. Pity it is, that French were not more indispen- 
sable in all education, which would preclude the alternative 
of learning more than one tongue besides the matricular. 
Not that it has a moiety of the qualities requisite for a 
universal language that English has, for its idiom being very 
elliptical, the nasal tones (which happily are becoming less 
so daily), and the difficulty of pronouncing eu and u, ren- 
der it very hard for any but natives, I had almost said for 
Parisians to conquer its peculiar intonations. The French 
pronounce E with ten different variations of tone, and 
Mitford asserts in his Harmony of Language, that U as 
pronounced by the French is only found in the French 
dialect, and that no other people use the sound, or have 
any character to express it. They used to pronounce oi, 
like ai, as Francois, Louvois. Although e constitutes half 
the French rhymes, it seldom occurs twice successively in 



273 

the same word, as in devenir, remener, &c. In interroga- 
tions, e is sounded as aime-je prie-je? 

The majesty and simplicity of the English tongue give 
it infinitely better claims to become a universal tongue, 
and the wide area over which it is spread, induces reason- 
able belief and hope that it will be what its predecessors — 
the learned dialects — have been in their range of time, al- 
most a universal dialect ; but in all things human, " Sur- 
git amari aliquid." The pronunciation is its stumbling 
block, and although the grammar is said to be easiness 
itself by reason of an almost absence from inflection (shew- 
ing its pure descent from primitive tongues in its primitive 
diction, for originally all tongues whatever were nearly 
uninflected, as is demonstrated by the oldest living dialect, 
Chinese, and what can be recovered from Egyptian monu- 
ments as to its hieroglyphic character, and also from the 
arrow-headed or cuneiform), yet the irregularity and want 
of analogy in our enunciation, exposes us to the smart 
reproach of our witty neighbours, the men of Gaul, who 
remark that the pronunciation of English is an impossi- 
bility, for what is written Moses is pronounced Nebuchad- 
nezzar, and as was said of the Portuguese, it would be an 
excellent language if the natives knew how to pronounce it. 
Many are surprised at the apparently irregular pronun- 
ciation of English, and assert it is impossible to account 
for its multifarious variety on any principles of analogy. 
Many devoted to the dead languages (but not buried), 
when they emerge into the world, begin to find that they 
have still to learn their matricular tongue, and arc un- 
willing to surrender time to its attainment, yet flatter them- 
selves they shall obtain their object by association. This 
is a good help, but insufficient to acquire an adequate 
knowledge of English. Many writers and speakers have 
enjoyed these advantages to their fullest extent, and are 



274 

very deficient in its grammar, etymology, and origin. They 
must avail themselves of the works of the orthoepists and 
logicians, by diligent perusal of which they may accom- 
plish that literary desideratum. 

All pronunciation is referable to analogy, and although 
the French admit the grammar is simple, they still aver 
that the pronunciation is invincible. Like the Greeks, 
they rarely learn any language but their own, and would, 
in this particular, like them, proclaim all other nations 
barbarians but themselves. They have written books to 
prove that French is the all in all sufficient, and if it pleases 
their vanity, for they live in a halo of it, ]et them indulge. 
Their tongue has of anomalies in grammar and pronun- 
ciation satis superque. A Jesuit named Bouhours, known 
for his work, " La maniere de bien penser," of consider- 
able acumen and delicacy of discrimination, wrote a trea- 
tise to shew that French was the sole language for mortals 
to speak. He gives ugly epithets to all others, and con- 
cludes that French alone has the secret of uniting brevity 
with clearness, purity, and politeness. In fine, all affec- 
tation and labour are equally repugnant to a good French 
style. He goes so far as to add that the pronunciation of 
French is most natural and pleasing of any, characterising 
all tongues with some discordant defects — the English with 
whistling in their talk— and winds up by saying the French 
alone can properly be said to speak, which arises from not 
accenting any syllable before the penultimate. I think 
vanity and critical deficiency can hardly go beyond these 
observations, for the French certainly combines as many 
defects in pronunciation as can fall to the lot of language. 
Their enunciation of eu and u is hideous and unnatural ; 
and few will think that a nasal tendency adds harmony to 
sound. It has its merits for grace, precision, and delicacy 
of expression, but in pronunciation it is perhaps the most 



275 

remote of all civilized tongues from perfection. The hide- 
ousness of the nasal twang is in process of reduction, but 
it would be to annihilate French to abstract nasality from 
its enunciation ; it is an inherent and ineradicable taint. 



Fragmentary Remarks on Eastern Tongues and 
Times. 

The writer has no pretension to more than a superficial 
acquaintance with Eastern tongues, so that what follows 
here is written as merely connected with what has preceded 
this chapter blending oriental story with language, perhaps 
inseparable from such a conjunction. 

Placing affiance in the facts, and to render this tractate 
on human speech more acceptable, and to imbue it with 
a collateral interest, these fragmentary remarks are ap- 
pended, which will comprise as much history as will 
contribute to illustrate the various customs and usages 
which have relation to the languages to which reference is 
made. 

It is generally, though not universally admitted, that all 
languages were originally one, and that they proceeded from 
that one which Adam spoke in Paradise, given to him 
for all necessary purposes, and transmitted purely to his 
descendants, one of whom was Noah in the tenth descent, 
whose son Japhet peopled the western world ; while Shem, 
probably the eldest born as first mentioned in Scripture, 
and from whom Abraham descended also in the tenth 
degree, so to our Saviour according to the flesh, who 
derives in lineal succession, being the sixty- first deduced 
from Adam who was the Son of God. 

How far the language of the first man, and Eve his wife, 
(not created like him but who was a development from him as 
a child from its mother,) subsequently spoken without even 
a dialect, was affected by the confusion of tongues can never 

t 2 



276 

be determined, but some learned in tbese questions, as 
Bryant, thought the confusion a partial event, while 
Socrates, the Christian divine, surmised that the lingual 
subdivisions consequent upon it diverged into seventy-two 
varieties, from which arose all future speech. 

It has been maintained that Abraham and his immediate 
antecessors did not lose the purity of that tongue in which 
also Moses wrote his history and explained his cosmogony, 
although they were idolaters and worshipped Teraphim, 
or lunar amulets or types of the ark in the form of a cres- 
cent. At the age of two hundred and five years Terah died, 
having removed from Ur in Chaldea to Haran in Mesopo- 
tamia, whence Abraham came to Canaan, and in the year 
1893, B.C. in the one hundred and seventy-fifth year of his 
age died, having previously undergone the rite of circum- 
cision. The Jews from that time settled in Palestine, the 
meaning of which proper name is Pali, shepherd, and stan, 
place or country, and the waters laving the coasts is called 
Tarshish, which means sea. In Sanskrit it is rendered by 
Carchish, like Carthage. Tarshish was son of Javan. 

This present is emphatically the age of philologers and 
etymologists, who dive into the arcana of dead dialects in 
like manner with the geologists who extort their treasures 
from the womb of earth, and it is to be hoped that the two 
languages known as the arrow-headed and the Sanskrit, 
which obtained in the civilised world while the languages 
of Greece and Borne were only in embryo much less 
matured, may yet be satisfactorily interpreted and de- 
cyphered — 

Errors like straws upon the surface flow, 
They who would seek for pearls must dive below — 
through a well applied labour commensurate with exigen- 
cies. 

We possess the Hebrew, probably the most ancient of 
tongues, in all its simplicity, as written by the author of 






277 

the Pentateuch ; neither did it lose any of its purity when 
written by Malachi. Subsequently it deteriorated in speech 
and composition, for the language in Syria and the Holy 
Land at the advent of our Saviour was not Hebrew but a 
dialect of it, when the Peshito or literal is supposed to have 
been the common tongue of Palestine, into which the New 
Testament was translated in the first century of grace with 
the greatest fidelity, according to Michaelis. 

Sir William Jones says that the square or Chaldee 
character in which Hebrew is written is of no remote an- 
tiquity. The Psalm, cxix, divided into twenty-two parts 
from the same number of letters in the Hebrew alphabet, 
is supposed by some to be no older than the time of Esdras, 
who on his return from Babylon about 457 B.C. copied 
the books. 

The learned Dr. Gyll in his treatise on the Hebrew 
tongue combats these opinions, and has entered largely 
into the nature and antiquity of Hebrew letters, vowel 
points, and accents, deducing them from the earliest times 
without variation, and he affirms that what Moses wrote 
was the same that Adam spoke or wrote, and that speech 
was given to our progenitor by a beneficent Creator when 
he breathed life into him, and made him at once a reasoning 
and a speaking animal, in which it seems to me that man 
is analogous to the hypostatic union, a trinity, composed 
of soul, life or spirit, and matter. 

This language then augmented by degrees as necessity 
impelled, through new wants or new ideas, and thus con- 
tinued in its entirety until the overthrow of all human 
speech on the plains of Shinar in Mesopotamia some 2230 
years before the dawn of the year of grace. From this 
source came those which are sister dialects — Samaritan, 
Chaldee, Syriae, Arabic, and Egyptian, the Hebrew being 
anterior in time and superior in dignity and simplicity. 
The prediluvian tongue lasted IGjG years unimpaired, for 



278 

Moses alleges (Gen. xi.) that the whole earth was one 
language and one speech, no dialects or idioms prevailing. 
The longevity of the patriarchs contributed to this end, for 
Adam's life was protracted to the sixteenth century, and 
in the seventeenth following the flood eventuated. 

" The people is one, they have all one lip or pronuncia- 
tion," so we see that all these tongues were nearly allied, and 
bear relation, similar to the Ionic, iEolic and Doric dialects 
of Greece, for Herodotus makes known that he actually 
heard the same language in Colchis that he heard in Egypt, 
this being a colony founded by some of the soldiers of 
Sesostris. Kcu rj Z,ori Traaa kol tj yXwcro-a kfx^epriQ $gtl 
aXXqXoitH, their colour and language being similar each to 
each. B. II. c. 105. 

The Arabic is a Semitic tongue nearly as antique as 
Hebrew. Hence the Arabians, and so also the Chinese 
claim priority of antiquity, but this pretension can not be 
entertained. Noah taught his matricular tongue, and so 
it may have been spoken by Abraham during his sojourn 
at Ur. The confusion took place in the days of Peleg, 
when Abraham was forty^eight years of age. 

Did his family then talk Hebrew in its purity and carry 
it to Judea? The Chaldean is evidently a derivative from 
Hebrew, which is the very language which the Creator 
wrote on the tables of stone ; and it is hardly to be sup- 
posed that Ezra would change the Hebrew character 
without an order from God himself, and no such injunction 
is to be found. Itis at least credible and worthy belief that 
the Jews kept their language and letters as they did their 
precepts and ritual, unaltered. 

Adam having received from heaven the gift of speech, it 
is consonant to verisimilitude that he also invented letters 
as indispensable to a social status, and that the art of nume- 
ration was not unknown to the prediluvians whose property 
was in flocks and herds, so they must have transacted 



279 

business as did the postdiluvians subsequently,, who were 
not so immediately under the care of heaven as the Jews 
under the theocracy, and that there was no mutation in the 
writing, as far as the Jews were concerned, hence the 
inference that the noble square, majestic letters were the 
same as those still found recording the Law and Prophets. 

During the captivity the Jews had to be taught the 
Chaldee. Now the Syriac and Chaldee are nearer to each 
other than the Hebrew. All holy writ is in Hebrew except 
Job in Arabic, and parts of Daniel in Chaldee. If therefore 
the language was constant so were the letters. With the 
confusion came variety of tongues which necessitated 
change of symbols, and this took place in Chaldea where 
the adjacent capitals of Nineveh and Babylon, almost 
coevals, were located. 

A great controversy has reigned among Hebrew sages 
touching vowel points and accents, which act and react on 
each other. They allege that there is no syllable without 
a point and no word without an accent. Dr. Gyll has 
analysed this question, and I think he deduces clear proof 
of their existence and use at all times ; but while he has 
many a Hebrew champion on his side he has robust oppo- 
nents against him. 

Philo the Jew positively insists that his people never 
changed a word that Moses wrote ; and many anterior to 
him mention the books of the Law in Hebrew with letters 
and vowels, so that Ezra can not be proved to have intro- 
duced points j for if they were indispensable in Ezra's 
days they were equally so in the old time before him. 

Besides it is impossible to read Hebrew without them ; 
and although Bibles may be printed without them or manu- 
scripts found indicating their absence, it does not signify 
indubitably that they were not in use previously. Time was 
when Greek accents were not in use, although known to 
the Greeks of the earlier and purer ages, but as to their 



280 

appearing in MSS. they are even of a very modern date, and 
have been in common use only since the 7th century, and 
even subsequently many MSS. appear divested of these ad- 
juncts, and to hear a modern Greek read his own language 
in violation of all quantity must be proof, satis superque, that 
accents are very arbitrary, contrary to analogy and reason, 
and contradictory even to perverseness, for it is futile to pre- 
tend that accents as used in modern Greece are consistent 
with quantity, and that a due regard may be had to both. 
Ex. : they enunciate Euripides, Evripedes, and so with 
clouds of other words and vowels, inverting their quantity 
and making what is naturally short to be emitted long, 
annihilating in fact quantity, rhythm and scansion too, in 
most admired confusion. 

The cases respecting the question of Greek and Hebrew 
accents or points are not analogous, for the accent may 
indicate an elevation or depression of voice and still be 
read without them, but no one can so well dispense with 
Hebrew points styled diacritical or distinctive, which really 
separate or distinguish ; or who is to discriminate between 
nouns and verbs, active and passive voices, &c, and es- 
pecially what is termed the vau conversive of tenses to be 
observed, or even to investigate the roots of vocables ? 

In Hebrew the future, imperative, optative and potential 
forms are all identified or nearly so with each other, or else 
one modification of the verb answers to all. Such is the 
nicety of this tongue and its requirements that an insertion 
of the Vau will also convert many Hebrew into Indo- 
European words, though their connection has been disputed, 
and that the Semitic dialects constitute a distinct depart- 
ment of language. 

In confirmation of the opinion of Dr. Gyll, a very learned 
Hebraist, Dr. Parkhurst, did not think the Jews exchanged 
the Hebrew for the Chaldaic tongue at the captivity ; and 
that seventy years, the lapse of their thraldom, was too 



281 

short a period for a people to lose a tongue in which they 
prayed daily, and from which selections from the Old 
Testament were recited, independent on the sure and 
certain hope of their revisiting Jerusalem, the joy of the 
whole earth, and if they retrieved or retained their tongue 
the symbols would undergo no change ; and according to 
Esther viii. 9, Ahasuerus* decree was written in all lan- 
guages, and that too only five years after Ezra had obtained 
his commission for the Jews to return to Salem, while 
Ezekiel wrote his prophecies in Hebrew which were pub- 
lished during the captivity, and so did all the prophets, 
God's penmen, write to the period of Malachi, whose holy 
strains close the sacred roll. 

The languages of Syria, Phoenicia, Palestine and Canaan 
were sister dialects, and Arabic is another congener of 
extreme antiquity. The Samaritan alphabet is denominated 
Phoenician, and medals of Tyre and Carthage have legends 
in Hebrew and Chaldee characters, for the Phoenicians 
were in common with the Hebrews of Semitic original. 

Canaan was the son of Ham, and the Phoenician and 
Panic (see Masclef s grammar) was the same tongue says 
Augustin the father. There is scarce a single Punic word 
extant, (p. 187.) Mago, like Cato the Censor, wrote on 
agriculture ; and the Periplus of Hanno was rendered into 
G reek, but nothing of the original remains. 

They called themselves Chanani, and St. Jerome asserts 
identity of language for its base, and that it is a middle 
tongue between Egyptian and Hebrew. 

Again the Pelasgic is Phoenician according to Diodorus 
Siculus; and the Pelasgi came from India, of which pro- 
bability or fact the Sanskrit roots which occur abundantly 
in their tongue do not permit us to doubt ; hence the 
Celtic must be of Indo-European extraction. 

Now the Scriptures point that Javan populated Ionia 
and Greece, and that all the countries to the west of Greece 



282 

derived their population from him, who must have spoken 
Hebrew, the language of Japhet, and this before language 
was corrupted, for all the descendants of Noah were pro- 
bably not collectively settled on the plains of Shinar. One 
Cadmus (if such a one there were, for the word is Kedem, 
and being interpreted means sun or the east, for Herodotus, 
B. V. c, 58, says he saw their symbols on certain tripods) 
is said to have carried letters into Greece, hence Greek 
is mediately derived from Hebrew, and Latin is semi- 
Greek, or in other words an Eolian dialect of it. Even 
the Lacedaemonians and Jews thought themselves deducible 
from one common stock, for which opinion Josephus, B. 
XII. c. 5, may be consulted. 

Latin was blended with Oscan, a language which existed 
in Italy down to the age of Ennius the poet, who died 
169 B.C. ; so difficult is it to extirpate a language once 
grounded and rooted in any country. In England the old 
Norse idiom was till lately spoken in the Orkneys, and the 
Cornish dialect has not been discontinued more than a 
century. 

In fine, modern investigators shew such unequivocal 
evidence of affinity in language, that out of 2000 German 
radicals the erudite Bibliander in his day, for he died in 
1564, found in his researches 800 radicals common to 
German, Greek and Latin, all of Keltic origin, which is 
the same as Gaelic or Gaulish, which comprises Wales, 
Great Britain, and its isles. 

In the numerals there is a marked similarity between 
English, German, Keltic, Persian, and Sanskrit. This 
latter is a wonderful structure and more perfect than the 
Greek, bearing affinity to the learned languages in root 
and grammar, for the Greek has a considerable portion of 
its vocabulary pure Sanskrit. The word crusca, as applied 
to Italian literature, the meaning of which is bran, bears 
analogy to the word Sanskrit, which means pure, or sifted 



283 

tongue, while Prakrit means residuum, or natural tongue 
without philosophical or artificial addenda or increments. 

It has been remarked that Sanskrit answers Greek as 
face to face in a mirror, for you will find the verb in the 
corresponding tense, and so with the noun and adjective 
as to case and gender, while the idiom and government are 
the same with many roots identical. 

Collateral evidence may be adduced of the common 
origin of the Indian tongues from the peculiar arrangement 
of the Sanskrit alphabet, so different from that of any 
other part of the world, and which exists in the greater 
part of the east from Indus to Pegu, in dialects apparently 
unconnected and in dissimilar characters. 

A dual number is found in Greek, Gothic and Icelandic ; 
whilst in some languages a number for more than two has 
been discovered and used : for example there is a tetral 
number in Sclavonic or Sarmatian, which is written in 
Greek character, resembling the Sanskrit in gender, de- 
clension, and moods with their form and paradigms. Their 
substantive verb Jesmi is only the asmioi Sanskrit (pp. 25. 
88.), the tlfjLi of Greek, the esum or sum of Latin, 

I advert to the Arabic language here as a congener of 
the remotest antiquity, the same in which Job composed 
his narrative, probably the most choice Arabic then, since 
which it has passed through its verbal and syntactical 
mutations, diverging into dialects of various orders of 
purity of which the Koreish or Koran (the Book) is the 
most chaste and efficient specimen of lingual purity. The 
Arabic characters were invented only a brief period before 
this publication, but it was not perfected from the Cufic till 
some centuries after the epoch of the arch-impostor Ma- 
homet, like Attila the scourge of heaven, one who flushed 
with conquest engaged in rivalry, and who impiously chal- 
lenged comparison with the Son of God, but whose dc- 



284 

grading doctrines and pretensions are gradually growing 
pale and withered before the Sun of Righteousness. 

Fortunately we are now perfectly cognisant of the Arabic 
of all ages, but in other contemporaneous speech we have 
much to seek owing to the insensate character of both 
Greeks and Romans, who might have learned other tongues, 
especially the one of mystery, the hieroglyphic, which is a 
sort of exalted gas, a crystallisation of hieratic, which was 
again a crystal of demotic, perhaps not very far removed 
from Hebrew, containing many of its constituents, as before 
remarked. From inattention to etymology it seems never 
to have struck the ancients that to know their own it was 
indispensable to investigate other languages ; they placed 
every ancient record to their own account, and made their 
country the scene of every action (p. 237). From what source 
did they conclude their language flowed, or did they surmise 
that the avroxOoveg must also have had a heaven-inspired 
speech ? This obstinacy has its birth in pride, the same 
which caused the conflagration of the famous Alexandrian 
library, A.D. 640, by Omar the Caliph, inspired by the fury 
of a fanatic, an indisposition to be familiar with or sift any 
language, so it ended in ignorance, whose broad veil mantles 
the earth with darkness till right and wrong are accidents. 

What stores of curious learning might have been revealed 
to us had any one Greek or Roman of intelligence applied 
himself to Egyptian lore, and enabled us to unravel the 
mysterious meanings on their motley stones and sepulchres. 
This nation is of a date little subsequent to the flood, and 
the very name is thought to be u, a house, and koht fire — 
but more probable from ai, land, and Gupti, Coptic. 

Names and religions in the East seem to use the word 
fire, as generic for every thing, whether proper names of 
places or patronymics. The word cham means fire, Ind, 
flame, implying sun and start, is locality. All the Eastern 



285 

world were star-worshippers, and what is equally true and 
remarkable that the Peruvians in South America were fire- 
worshippers, for the Incas, their hierarchs and monarchs 
too, pretended descent from the Sun like the Persians and 
Chinese, and among the ten Avatars or incarnations of 
Vishnu the name of the wife of one was Sit a. The word 
Rama is found among the Avatars, which would imply that 
the principal festival of the Peruvians, styled Rama-sitoa,, 
had reference to the Indian Avatars. 

In fact all antiquity through consecutive ages seems to 
have been one vast body of fire-worshippers supposed to 
have been taught first by Nimrod the giant, the hunter, to 
the Assyrians, whose king he was after the Deluge, which is 
the most rational of all mere natural religions, whether we 
take "the glorious planet Sol" or the Northern Star, of 
whose true fixed and resting quality there is no fellow in 
the firmament. These untutored children having deflected 
from the true course of virtue, and brought on themselves 
the retribution due, as apparent in the overthrow of lan- 
guage, for shameful disobedience, quite forgot or preter- 
mitted what Noah and his immediate posterity had taught, 
and so substituted externalities for spiritualities, whereby 
mankind again lost sight of him to whom they owed all, who 
created them as they were, nor was his service hard. Even 
Abraham was an idolater worshipping the lunar amulets or 
types of the Theba or ark, till reclaimed for ends beyond 
his reach to know. They had their magicians, all conver- 
sant with fire, whose name derives from May, fire. Rab 
mag is great magician, Hub Saris chief eunuch, Rab-shakah 
chief elder. With them the names of offices were trans- 
ferred to tin? holder, as among Europeans, Mareschail and 
Butler, or Botteler, arc given to certain functionaries. 

In fine there is scarce an important word in the East 
which docs not either mean or imply the Sun or its attri- 
butes. Beginning with Budha in Sanskrit, which means 



286 

Sun, while the Trinity, "Brahma, Vishnu and Siva, are 
names which bear similar interpretation. Budha is thought 
to be identical with Vuda, hence Wodi, and with nasa 
suffix, Wodin, the northern celebrity. The Egyptian Menes 
is again a transformation of Menu, the Sun, or fxr^v ; fiav, 
the Moon, implying crescent, or else Noah ; some think it 
means Nimrod, founder of the Assyrian monarchy, and 
Khur, hence Cyrus, all mean, Sun. Pharaoh is only Phre, 
the same in the Coptic as Phoroneus, of all Argos king, 
is only the same word a little modified (p. 117) ■ Memnon 
in mythology is styled son of Aurora or the dawn, and 
Tithonus means Sun likewise. What is Cadmus but Kedem 
the East or Sun ; and in the twelve labours of Hercules, 
that myth of a man, we discover the twelve signs of the 
Zodiac; and in the eight great gods the eight persons 
saved in the ark, for the history of the Deluge was no secret 
to the ethnic world. What of Apollo and of Mercury the 
Egyptian Taut or Hermes and Cadmus, all are identical ? 
The Sun is Achad-Achad-Ham, hence Cadmus by contrac- 
tion. In Chinese the Word Ge or Jee means Sun, and 
Yue the Moon, while Tien means heaven personified as a 
God, corresponding to the ovpavbg and Ccelus of the 
Western world. 

To arrive at etymologies words are compressed or evolved, 
letters are inserted and inversions used. If we adopt this 
legitimate process with Tien we get neit. Now the 
temple of Neita was at Sais in Egypt, and Cecrops came 
with a Saite colony and founded Athens, the eye of Greece. 

In this mysterious vocable, signifying intellect and the 
dianoetic power, etymologists have disclosed Athena, by 
the addendum of ena, and this tien is surmised to be no 
other, implying eternity. Further association seems to be 
in the word tihan, meaning a bow, or the concavity of 
heaven in Sanskrit, which seems to be the womb of 
mythology as well as of inflected diction; but Bryant 



287 

assigns it a different derivation, and that it is the genius 
of the ark. 

Take again the proper names Venus, Vesta or Bona 
Dea, among the Scythians, and we discern a common 
source. Mitra is a name for Venus with the Persians, 
and Mitras means Sum 

The Greeks styled Diana Artemis, supposed to be only 
another variety of Mitras, the same being Venus in As- 
syria, associated with Astarte the Moon, the identical 
Ashteroth. 

Even Europe was one of the names of the Syrian Astarte. 
So that to this fountain of light, the Sun, that with 
surpassing glory crowned, may all Ethnic mythology be 
referred, who 

Looks from his sole dominion like the God 
Of this vast world. 
Let those who would see to what extent the word Sun 
or its equivalent is carried consult Bryant's Mythology, 
at once applicable to Deity, person, temple, tower, and town. 
The Linga and Phallus are only types of that power 
whose genial warmth engenders all things. 

The word Hur, of frequent occurrence in the East, from 
which so many Persian words proceed, is only the arch- 
chymic Sun, as Houri, which in Hebrew is aor, Sun, while 
the oldest form of Sabaism consists in Sun-worship, or what 
is more general in adoration of the whole heavenly host, 
and from these facts are derived appellatives of all kinds. 

Suhaa in Arabic is the Sun, hence Sakya, a Sanskrit 
name for Budha ; from this again is supposed to be the 
parent of Sacsc, Scythse, &c. Odin or Wodin is designated 
son of Sigge or Sacsc, the origin of Saxon, who are thus 
comprised in the ample fold of fire-worshippers. 

The image which Nebuchadnezzar set up was probably 
that of'Budlia or Sacya, hence Sach, Se-sacli, meaning illus- 
trious, and all are analogous. The Babylonians styled 



288 

their kingdom Sesach. — Jerera. xxv. 26. The Sacse, Saca- 
sense or Saxons, all may derive from the God Sacya, a deity- 
adored under the form of a sword, which again is called 
Seax, venerated under the title of Woden, a variation of 
Boden or Budha, such close affinity seems to adhere to 
these appellatives. The festivals at Babylon were also 
known by the name of Sacea, the metropolis of Sun- 
adorers, and even the Massa-getse offered horses to the 
Sun in sacrifice, as swiftest of animals. 

To extend these observations let me observe that Kisha 
and Kusha means Sun in Sanskrit, rendered also Ethiopia 
in the Bible ; and the Arimaspians, " who purloined the 
guarded gold," are fabulously said to have but one eye, 
implying Sun- worshippers, in the golden eye of day. 

If then the Sun came in for so large a share of man*s 
adoration, the earth, which Dr. Faber thinks was the once 
blessed and original habitation of Satan the archangel in 
his sphere of immortalities, hurled into chaos only for his 
rebellion in unison with his horrid crew, who dared defy the 
Omnipotent to arms, and which earth was and ever will be 
the only theatre of man's innocence, fall, recovery, and 
future place of bliss, this Planet on which the Son of Man 
laid down his life for our redemption on the bitter cross was 
not less worshipped by the manifold adorers of creation. 

Tacitus remarks in his German history, c. 40, that all the 
tribes agree in worshipping Hertham, mother earth, who 
teems and feeds all — " id est terram colunt/' for earth has a 
creative power as well as the arch-chymic Sun, and was ac- 
knowledged mother, as indicative of fertility by the Scandi- 
navians to the north, and Italy to the south, whose tributary 
sacrifice to the earth was a hog. The proper name Scanda is 
thought to be identical with Budha, which we have ob- 
served is Wodin and Odin, all indicative of the Sun. 
* The very habits and customs the Eastern and Western 
world were analogous, which we detect in the Beltane or 



289 

Midsummer day fire of the Highlands of Scotland ; and in 
Ireland mountains seem to have been the receptacles of 
these fiery tributes to heaven, akin to the fire worship of 
Baal ; hence the round towers of the West, according to the 
concurrence of archaeologists, connected with a worship, 
whose range of empire comprised all this habitable globe. 

Nations having taken their names from heat, as repre- 
sented by the sun, so have they from its opposite quality, 
cold, which is only the abstraction of heat. This is in- 
stanced in a country whose name is a synonyme for cold — 
Siberia, which authorities have derived from Sabarah, the 
Arabic for intense cold ; while in Persia Sarma means cold, 
which leads us to infer that to be the origin of Sarmatia 
and Sauromatse, who spoke Scythian. Again Himalaya is 
Sanskrit for a cold country, and from this name are with 
verisimilitude deduced Imaus, and Mount Haemus. 

Scythia is that populous region of the north, the cunabula 
linguarum, from whose speech came the compound Etruscan, 
Greek and Latin immediately, and from the Sanskrit and 
Arabic mediately; and if so Celtic, Sclavonic, Teutonic, 
Gothic and the Tartaric tongues, each may be so, and 
u add of whose train am I." 

The name of the earth in Scythian was Apia, the female 
of Apis; in Herodotus Tr\ S£ cnria. Bryant thinks the 
sacred Bull Apis worshipped at Memphis in Egypt is the 
same as awia, which means native, as ama 777, father-land ; 
ira-rnra, means father, nainra QiXe. — Odyssey, Z. v. (p. 75.) 
Pelasgia comprised all Greece and Thrace, which was a 
parcel and part thereof. In Homer, Iliad V. v. 270, we 
find it was called uina, from this line Ti)\69tv ££ 'AmrjQ 

The bull is an emblem of agriculture and husbandry, so 
the patriarch Noah is called avOpwirog yrjc — husbandman. 
The Israelites worshipped a golden calf also. 

Xuthus was the father of Ion, and this appellative is not 

u 



290 

very remote from ^KvOog, which seems to imply a Scythian 
origin, an erratic band, who ascended and descended geo- 
graphically in their roamings on this ball of earth, which 
seems to be the rationale for the word Iltkapydi, or storks, 
given to the same migratory body ; or it may be the type 
of a people in a nomadic condition — to support which hy- 
pothesis we cite a phrase from Strabo, B. IX. c. 18, Keu 
otl v7ro twv ' Attikljv UeXapyol TTpOGtiyopevOriGav, §ia rrjv 
7r\avr]v. Homer calls the Leleges and Caucones by the 
same name, people who once inhabited Ionia, whereby we 
see UeXapyoL, come into UeXacryoi, by the change of E for 
S, a conlmon substitute, for which see page 218. 

Kcu AiXeysg /ecu KavKOJvsg diotTe UeXcKryou — Iliad 20, V. 
429. The term Pelasgae was of extensive application and 
synonymous with Graikoi — whence comes Grseci, which 
word followed EWriveg. Even the Tyrrhenians or Tuscan 
were once called Pelasgi. This subject has been thoroughly 
investigated by Welsford in his instructive work on the 
English Language, which is a valuable pendant to Prichard's 
Celtic Nations. These co-ordinates have done for the 
explication of names, places and persons, what H. Tooke 
did for the affinities and descent of words ; but however 
extensive their labours and indagations may have been, 
there will always be still some thing left for happier industry 
and future information in the exhaustless subject of lan- 
guage. 

Before I close this excursive chapter on tongues and 
times as bearing reference to the East, I can not pretermit 
the opportunity of adverting to a singular language, that 
of Iran or Airan, Arian or Persian) whose character is 
arrow-headed or cuneiform, and whose mysteries may 
be unravelled more readily than its coeval in singularity 
and difficulty of explication, the Egyptian hieroglyphic 
symbol. 

Philologers have already attacked the wrought stones and 



291 

tiles of Babylon and Nineveh, but such almost insuperable 
difficulties have arisen at every step that we may be said to 
hope against hope ; yet " nil mortalibus arduum est '* is 
an encouraging adage, and experience teaches us that little 
is difficult to diligence and skill. 

The Chinese is a symbolic and a pictured tongue, which 
is reported to be as old as Noah. (p. 148) . This great 
patriarch, jointly with the sun, was the embodiment of all 
Ethnic worship ; and the ark, comprising some dozen 
names, Theba being the principal one. He or his erratic 
offspring founded that ancient empire of China ; but here 
also there has been a greater mutation, either by lapse of 
time, which subverts things and replaces them, or from 
change itself, which creeps in like air, than from foreign 
invasions which have been found both to corrupt and im- 
prove language. 

When we are better acquainted with China, which pro- 
mises us a vast harvest of literary, political and religious em- 
ployment, we shall in a few decades of years or less, sift, 
winnow and analyse a tongue (p. 149) which, like its 
locality, is remote from general civilisation — " divisos orbe 
Chineses" — whose durability resembles the Eoman boast 
of M Capitolii immobile Saxum," a vaunt and a vain promise 
of eternal duration in a world, where one mutation treads 
on the vestige of another. 

If language is phonetic, alphabetical and pictorial, as 
wc understand in the Egyptian, Cuneiform and Chinese, 
what hope have we of retrieving its peculiar sounds, and as 
if the words concentrated in figures, and symbols were not 
sufficiently unapproachable, a conjecture as to what words 
were phonetic is superadded to the mystery, for great is 
the mystery of symbols. 

The whole number of hieroglyphical characters now 
discovered, thanks mainly to the efforts of Champollion 
and Young, does not exceed a thousand, which can not com- 

u 2 



292 

pose a system of real language, and yet are too numerous 
to be kegs only like Chinese, for they are only 214. (p. 149.) 
Perhaps these hieroglyphics are only a phonetic form, which 
was the sign of things ; they were not letters, but they may 
represent whole words. The question has been asked were 
the Egyptians or Chinese ever possessed of an alphabet? 
It would seem that revelation only can unravel the mystery 
of these emblems, possessed by a wonderful people who 
combined in their policy great vices with a corrupt and 
casuistical civilisation, especially the Chinese, who indulge 
in immorality without stint or shame. 

In the pages of Eawlinson, Layard, and others on As- 
syria, from Assur we find that the language of Babylon 
styled Assyrio-Babylonian, (probably the same as Syrian 
and Chaldaic of the Semitic family,) is also strikingly like 
the Hebrew and Egyptian, (p. 90.) Some words pregnant 
with meaning are styled ideo-graphs, as others are phonetic 
and alphabetic. 

A dialect of Scythia is said to have been in use before 
the immigration of the Arian races in the days of Darius 
Hystaspes, B.C. 500. Is the Arian language allied to 
Sanskrit, of which the present Persian seems an offspring? 
for Herodotus remarks that the Median kingdom was once 
styled Aria, and that theArians and Brachmans,the civilisers 
of Europe, these two great branches were kept asunder for 
centuries after their first separation is noted by Dr. Miiller. 
The Indus divided India from Ariana, which is the same 
as Iran or Persia. 

Modern investigation admits there are three kinds of 
Cuneatic or Cuneiform writing; the first, Persian or 
Pehlvi, of the Arian family closely allied to Sanskrit, and 
is it not allied to Chaldee ? 

The Chaldee and Syriac are the same tongue written in 
different characters. The inscription on the horse of 
Rustan, the Persian Hercules, is recognised as pure Chaldee 



293 

in Cufic characters, and adverts to Sapor the King of 
Persia who died A.D. 273, who took Valerian, Rome's 
emperor, prisoner. Secondly, there is supposition that the 
Brahmish or Scythic was the tongue in Persia previous to 
the emigration of the Arian races. And there is a third 
class styled Assyrian, or Babylonian, allied to Hebrew and 
Chaldaic, whose remotest date is assigned to 1200 or 1300 
B.C., synchronous with the 19th or 20th dynasties of 
Egypt, if affiance can be placed in these order of kings, 
although adjusted by the judicious and indefatigable Wil- 
kinson, whose valuable tribute to Egyptian literature will 
be Pyramede perennius. 

Herodotus, B. I. c. 95, says that the Assyrians had been 
lords over Upper Asia during 525 years anterior to the 
defection of the Medes, which took place about 800 B.C. 

The Persians under Cyrus were in a nomadic state, and 
spoke the Pehlvi or Chaldee. The Assyrians are presumed 
never to have penetrated into India, for in that country no 
vestiges of them are recognized. The Sacse (in whom the 
type of Saxon is found) (p. 287) or Kymri were frequently 
on the inscriptions of Khorsabad about 1300 B.C., and 
under this name was included all the Northern nomadic 
tribes, and the Celts appropriated their name to them- 
selves, as the Moguls do that of Elath or Ilyat, which is 
indicative of nomades. 

In lower Chaldaea advances are in progress through the 
diligence of earnest indagators of language, for at Sankern 
we are aware that there have been found bricks surcharged 
with arrow-headed inscriptions, one commemorating the son 
of Cambyses who is not known in history, others with the 
names of kings also unknown, which, on the decyphcring, 
are apparently of the family of Nabonassar who preceded 
Nebuchadnezzar. The locality of Werka, traditionally the 
Ur of Chaldasa, forms one vast necropolis. In excavating 
under the great pyramid of Nimrood the sagacity and 



294 

steadiness of purpose of Mr, Layard, whose emulation was 
quickened by previous discoveries, brought to light the 
tomb of Sardanapalus where the statue of this historical 
personage was found in a vaulted chamber, which was 
replete with inscriptions, being records of his reign. Even 
a " House of Records " has been disinterred similar to one 
mentioned by Ezra, containing a copy of the decrees of 
Cyrus, permitting the Jews in Babylon to return to Jeru- 
salem, held in wearisome captivity " till Cyrus set them 
free." 

This is likely to prove a mine of historical wealth, rein- 
forcing Scripture and rectifying pagan accounts, and un- 
doubted records of the empire during a long succession 
may yet be discovered after ages of burial. 

All these records are in the cuneiform character, in which 
are the oldest Persian inscriptions, a figure or symbol 
capable of forming the greatest variety of ramifications 
and shapes, and perhaps the most extraordinary extant, 
quite unique in all known tongues, for here is one single 
form only applied so variously that it can subserve all the 
complications and requirements of human speech ; it is 
simplicity exemplified in symbols like primeval diction in 
words, (p. 150.) 

The present Persian resembles that of the Persian of 
Constantine's days, and much of it has been judiciously 
and accurately explicated by Sir H. Rawlinson on the 
same principle as that adopted by Dr. Young on the tri- 
lingual Rosetta stone, that is, by grouping the clauses and 
so extorting the hidden sense. The current language of 
Persia is supposed by Malcolm to be a rude dialect of the 
Pehlvi, but from Indian immigrants it is thought subsequent 
to the death of Alexander, B.C. 323, that a Zend dialect 
prevailed, and that Pehlvi was neglected. 

The ancient language of Persia is extinct, although the 
subsequent sojourners in that delightful province of the 



295 

sun continued to use the arrow-headed form of writing. 
It is generally admitted by modern inquirers that ancient 
Persian was Sanskrit or the Zend tongue. At the present 
time the whole of this important subject has passed under 
the searching spirit of the age, giving us by a kind of pre- 
science, an analysis of what relates to the Vedic period 
and the Zenda Vest, their Bible, which has been even 
ascribed to Abraham, whom they style Zoroaster, living or 
golden star, another appellative for the sun (Zor, Sur, Syria, 
Osiris, Dionusus called Surius) (p. 98), the God of their 
idolatry. Dr. Miiller remarks that Veda means seed, a 
name given to the sacred literature, in fact a collective 
name for the sacred literature of the Vedic age, which 
forms the back ground of the whole Indian world, (p. 4.) 

If these affinities in oriental language are found, for there 
is a singular congruity of structure between all native 
Armenian tongues, which implies common origin, the 
African tongues apparently so wide asunder in sound, 
structure and distance are mutually related. So some 
indigenous or primogenial languages of America have all 
their words in a cluster, like grapes on a stalk, without the 
aid of conjunctions to marry them. According to Pro- 
fessor Arabesque and the Missionary Lopez, in the 1500 
varieties of American dialects, there were obvious affinities, 
especially in their sameness of structure, the relation to 
each other, and their relation to the tongues of the old 
world, although the likeness does not lie on the surface, 
except in the remarkable ecphonesis utl, otl, which is both 
Mexican and Eskimaux, and similar prolations. 

I have passed in rapid review, I feel very inadequately, 
more historical than critical, the languages of the East, from 
the Sanskrit (p. 121) whose complex grammar and inflections 
was said to be too abstruse even for the comprehension of 
the learned Brahmins, and too prolix for reference, to the 
tongues whose hieroglyphic and arrow-headed symbols may 



296 

yet be unravelled by indomitable industry, and which once 
predominated in the learned world ; but despite of their 
fame, and that of Greece and Rome, these complex tongues 
were inferior to that used in Great Britain and its colo- 
nies, and which is perhaps from its simplicity more than 
any other adapted to be an universal language, (p. 273.) 

The lead which our native tongue, the least inflected of 
the lettered world, has taken in science and literature, the 
splendid proofs it affords of its entire competency for the 
expression of every idea that feeling or science may impart, 
at a period when all the efforts of intellect and imagination 
challenge its inadequateness and try its powers, is also 
sufficient proof that language needs little of inflection to 
convey with rapidity every thought which the mind is able 
to cherish or conceive. 

Mr. Gladstone has remarked that we can not know men 
or nations unless we know their tongue. 

Diversity of language was, like labour, a temporal 
penalty inflicted on our race for sin, but being like labour 
originally penal, like labour it becomes by the ordinance 
of God a fertile source of blessing to those who use it 
aright, for it is the instrument of thought, and there is 
a profound relation between thought and the investiture 
which it chooses for itself. 



297 



On Figures of Speech. 

These citations are selected to exemplify grammar as 
well as poetry, (p. 129.) 

Figurative diction, which is composition, admits all 
foreign and domestic construction; but some may say 
what have we to do with foreign auxiliaries ? To enrich 
our vocabulary with words from every division of the globe 
is wisdom, but to allow any nation to control our style is 
indignity. In Greek an unrivalled felicity of diction adorns 
every page, but it is chiefly artificial, the work of rheto- 
ricians, (p. 114.) 

Perhaps in arts and arms and language we may add we 
can scarce acknowledge a superior. "We have in fact a 
noble language admirably adapted to every species of com- 
position, from the simplicity of Addison in prose, the 
Raphael of easy writers, and the sweetness of Pope in 
numbers, to the variety of Shakspere, and the sublimity, 
the majesty of the music of Paradise Lost in blank verse. 

Enriched with the simple, the sublime, the majestic, and 
a diction which will not bend to a foreign yoke, well may 
we defer to less gifted rivals the boast of lighter compo- 
sitions. 

For who did ever in French authors see 

The comprehensive English energy, 

The weighty bullion of one sterling line 

Drawn in French wire would through whole pages shine. 

Roscommon. 

On custom depends composition and not on artificial 
rules. We learn grammar to be initiated into the changes 
which words undergo, but the application of the variations 
rest with authors by whose authority they arc, and ought 
to be directed. 



298 

Composition is universal and common to all languages 
and every period of its existence, for we know that writing 
never took place in any language whatever before the 
diction had attained a degree of perspicuity, so as not to 
be misunderstood, (p. 112.) " m 

Ancient and modern diction claim the studious atten- 
tion of every aspirant to literary fame, for he who confines 
his composition to the rules of grammar and disregards 
that of Horace will never earn the title of accomplished. 

The delightfully figurative and picturesque expressions 
of Spenser almost stand unrivalled. Dryden was one of 
the great masters of our language, and veneration is paid 
to his name as a cultivator of it and literature in general^ 
because he refined our diction, improved the sentiments 
and tuned the numbers of English poetry, and was the 
precursor of his rival Pope, who also reaped his full harvest 
of praise. 

The language of all poetry is figurative, especially that of 
an epic poem, which is wholly figurative. We can not 
forget the sestrum which animated Virgil, when he finished 
an incomplete line in the fervour of reciting it by which 
he was transported — 

t6 iEre ciere viros — Martemque accendere cantu." 

In poetry owing to its nature much license is allowed, and 
the bard " may snatch a grace beyond the reach of art." 
This may be against law, but it is not against reason. 
Sciolists in criticism often assume a privilege to which they 
are not entitled, that of condemning imperiously without 
rendering sober reason, and this has led into many absur- 
dities which might have been avoided, for such indiscrimi- 
nate censure lessens confidence without benefiting the 
understanding. 

It is cheering and indispensable to peruse and mark what 
the earliest writers of English have done in their composi- 
tions to enhance our language, for want of which many have 



299 

proceeded on theoretical and erroneous principles of criti- 
cism. Our authors wrote on principles corroborated by 
classical authority, unknown to grammarians and philoso- 
phers unacquainted with the origin of their native speech. 

Passages in poets considered violations of syntax are 
easily explained on reference to antiquity and especially to 
primitive diction, of which mere routineers are ignorant. 

That beauty of style is not a cosmopolite, like sentiment 
and thought, but has a native land, a sun and climate of its 
own, is a remark of Chateaubriand. 

Language is not to be learned from general rules, it is 
founded on particular precedents. 

Oriental poetry as compared with that of the "Western 
world appeals more exclusively to the senses ; the latter 
seems to unite in its appeals to the senses, mind and heart ; 
and as language advances to perfection asperity wears away, 
while aspirates and gutturals are dismissed and elisions are 
permitted euphonice gratia. 

Beware of parenthesis ; Dr. Johnson was of opinion 
none should be used, as they often embarrass periods and 
are inconsistent with accuracy of style, and should be 
avoided. The ancients in no tongue used parenthesis. 
The proper place for the parenthetical character is in all 
digressions foreign to the context. It is often used unne- 
cessarily, as, Speak ye (who saw) his wonders in the deep. 
Again — Innumerable as the stars of night (or stars of 
morning) dew drops. 

Some editors overcharge punctuation ; no point should 
be either before or after parenthetical characters ; it being 
itself an interpunction admits no interpunction before or 
after it. 

Sometimes an interrogative point answers the province 
of the cxclamativo, as, 
How beautiful has he described the art of gaining friends ! 

How many arc the instances of chastity in the fair sex ? 



300 

Some sentences require the period or full stop although 
they seem interrogative, a sentence in which wonder and 
admiration are expressed, and no answer expected or im- 
plied is properly terminated by the exclamative point, as, 
How many are enchanted with idle popularity ! Who can 
express the noble acts of the Lord ! What must be the 
Creator when his works are so magnificent ! 

Punctuation was originally assigned to periods for their 
proper division into their constituent parts. Points care- 
lessly placed mislead the sense, and being used by printers 
as much as by authors we must refer to the sense and not 
to the points, which should arouse the vigilance of critics, 
without being controlled by printed MSS. 

The Latin enclitics, posterisque and quibusque and such, 
should have only one dot if the que is left out. (p. 91.) 

A colon should not be used before a conjunction, a semi- 
colon only should be used. No elegant period admits 
more than one colon, for description becomes very heavy 
if the periods are too long. This fault is perceived in 
Lord Bolingbroke and especially in the histories of Guic- 
ciardini, where much redundance is found. In fact were 
all books reduced to their quintessence many a bulky 
author would appear in a penny paper, and there would be 
scarce such a thing as & folio in all literature. Simplex 
munditiis or careless art is to be cultivated, in which quality 
David Hume was pre-eminent, (p. 160.) 

Our thoughts can not be expressed but by words of dif- 
ferent import. Equal periods must not follow one another 
too close. Names of persons and localities should be 
always written in capital letters, although Voltaire in his 
histories always used small letters, out of singularity or to 
annoy and deride greatness. 

The dash — thus is too often used by incoherent writers 
in an arbitrary manner in the place of the regular point. 
The use of it where the sentence is abrupt, where a signifi- 



301 

cant point is required or where an unexpected turn occurs 
in the sentiment, as, 

Is it foreign to ravage seas and land ? 

To raise such mountains on the troubled main 

When I — but first 'tis fit the billows to restrain — 
Again in Othello : 

Put out the light and then — put out the light ? 

That is kill Desdemona. A note of interrogation should 
follow the repetition of the word light, as denoting a sudden 
start of thought and inquiry as to what would follow. 
After a solemn pause the dash is necessary, as 

Here lies the great — false marble, where ? 
Nothing but sordid dust lies here. 

Those epitaphs are the most perfect which set virtue in 
the strongest light, as, 
Epictetus who lies here was a slave and a cripple, poor as 

the beggar in the proverb, but the favourite of heaven. 

Some epitaphs are very touching, as exemplified in this 
Latin specimen of simplicity, of which I annex a translation. 

Innocent and very blessed, 
Like a flower I fell — and sleep. 
Traveller, why art thou oppressed? 
Happier I than you who weep. 

The invention of epitaphs proceed from the presage or 
sense of immortality implanted in us, memorials to remind 
men of their frail condition and to excite their inward 
thoughts by the sight of death to a better life ; and so 
sacred were monuments considered that those who violated 
them were punished with banishment and even death. 
Hence monuments were erected in churches and chancels, 
and either removing or defacing them is punishable by 
law, for the spot belongs in fee to the families, who have 
purchased their right to set up these memorials to remind 
the living of their mortality, and as a record of departed 



Innocens et per beatus 
More florum decidi. 
Quid viator fles sepultum ? 
Flente sum felicior. 



302 

worth and comfort to their friends and descendants. In- 
tramural burial is coeval with Constantine the Great in the 
fourth century of Christianity, and in the middle ages 
monuments and brasses are found, while tombstones in 
churchyards have not been in use more than two centuries. 

To revert to the dash, in Horace the line 

"Regina sublimi flagello" requires a dash, and then 
follows " tange Chloen semel arrogantem." 

Here the stroke is impending, the whip is in the air, and 
the reader in pain for the fair criminal, when her lover 
relents and desires she may be treated tenderly. On this 
contrast so graphically executed, (the words tange semel, 
the threat in sublimi flagello) depends the sudden turn of 
sentiment and beauty of the passage, for without proper 
punctuation much beauty is lost and ignorance interposed 
from inapt compositors as well as inadequate composers. 

There is a prosaic as well as a poetic pronunciation ; 
wherever the poetic varies from the prosaic it is poetic 
licence. In composition the period must not be so long as 
to exhaust the breath of the speaker. Particular sentences 
should be equal in expression, so that the voice may repose 
at equal intervals. To this end a period should consist of 
at least two members, and at most of only four. Equality 
supposes at least two terms and variety is established two 
ways in a period, in the sense and expression ; a discourse 
incommodious to the speaker must be disagreeable and 
unattractive to the hearer. 

All figures of speech are reducible to analogy, and so 
must be all known sciences thus reduced. The figures 
antiplosis, apposition, evocation, prolepsis, syllepsis, syn- 
thesis, synecdoche and zeugma belong to rhetorical and 
poetic language. 

Paronomasia is not an uncommon figure, whereby a 
letter is changed which suggests a new idea and gives a 
new word, as fiends for friends. But the figure anacolu- 
thon implies want of sequence or a non-sequitur. 



303 

Under parallelism may be included nine figures, viz., 
accommodation, alliteration, antithesis, correlation, ellipsis, 
gradation, repetition, rhyme, simile. 

It seems that the multitude of these figures may be 
reduced to four, for Sanctius' dictum is^ that all the rest 
are mere chimaeras dire — {i Monstruosi partus grammati- 
corum," — viz., ellipsis, hyperbaton, pleonasm, syllepsis or 
synthesis, (p. 238.) 

Short explanations of these figures may not be irrelevant 
with examples in Latin. 

Apocope, like aphaeresis, abstracts something from a 
word, as mi for mihi, a figure much used by the vulgar. 

Antithesis is opposition or one letter substituted for 
another, as olli for illi in old Latin. 

Aphaeresis is the removal of part of a word, as conia for 
ci-conia, a stork. 

Crasis is a mixture of syllables, as vemens for vehemens. 

Diaeresis is a mark thus •*, as aulai', pictai, for aulae, 
pictae. 

Enallage can change the voice, word and tense, (p. 32.) 

Epenthesis is an insertion in the middle of a word, as 
relligio for religio. (p. 120.) 

Metaphor is the most elegant amongst tropes and figures, 
and one of the most frequent in speech in savage or civil 
language, as Sunday is the golden clasp which binds up 
the volume of the week. Prayer is the key of the day and 
the lock of the night. 

Aristotle remarks of this figure that every metaphor 
founded on analogy must be equally correct in a reversed 
sense, as Age is the winter of life, and winter is the age of 
the year. Of all figures of speech none comes so near to 
painting as metaphor, making intellectual ideas visible to 
the eye by imparting a ray of colour, (p. 160.) 

Mctaplasm, is adding, removing, or altering a letter or 
syllable for verse, ornament or necessity. 

Metathesis is when one letter is put for another, as 



304 

pistris for pristis, a kind of whale, luncheon for noon-cheon. 
(p. 169.) 
Paragoge is lengthening a word, as dicier for dici. 
Prosthesis is the addition of a letter to a word, as gnavus 
for navus. 

Syllepsis is when words in a sentence differ in gender, 
number or both, as verbum qui est filius Dei. (p. 239.) 
Turba ruunt. 

Syncope is the removal of a part from the middle of a 
word, as dixti for dixisti. 

Poetic diction has terms peculiar to itself, or employs 
such as are common to prose in a peculiar way. Poetry 
not only retains many terms obsolete in prose, but uses a 
diction denied to her sister art. Poetry prefers host to 
army, din to noise, ken to cognisance, bourn to bound, 
behest to command, plaint to complaint, scowl to frown, 
erst to formerly, erewhile to heretofore, &c. 

" "While she consent my sighing plaint to hear." 

Gay. 
The Lord of Hosts, the hen of angels, high behest, &c. 
« The Devil 
Eyed them askance, and to himself thus plained, 13 
The lowring element scowls o'er the dark'ned landscape, 
snow or show'r. 
So spake the Patriarch of mankind, but Eve 
Persisted, yet submiss, tho* last replied." 
More dreadful and deform for deformed. 

Oh, foul descent ! that I who erst contended 
"With Gods, to sit the higb/st, am now constrained 
Into a beast. 
So the term like, in the ancient sense of seem. " Before 
man is life and death, and whether him liketh, shall be 
given him." 

And as they please — 

" They limb themselves, and colour, shape, and size 
Assume as likes them best, condense or rare." 



305 

The words welkin, duress, wight, ycleped, hight, whilom, 
hardship, person, the named, heretofore, &c. 
There is a tall long-sided dame, 
But wondrous light, ycleped /awie. Hudibras. 
The sublime style employs the term morn for morning, 
even for evening, helm for helmet, trump for trumpet, 
weal for wealth, vale of death for valley, dell for recess, 
rill for rivulet, spray for branch, hind for labourer, acclaim 
for acclamation, and many synonymes of like value. 

The adjectives primal for primary, primordial for primi- 
tive, supreme for heavenly, illumine for illume, relume for 
relight, opine for judge, interwoven for entangle, inhume 
for inter, circumfuse for pour around, annumerate for 
enrol, simulate for pretend. 

" For God will deign 
To visit oft the dwellings of just men, 
Delighted, and with frequent intercourse, 
Thither will send his winged messengers 
On erands of supernal grace." 

Milton, Paradise Lost. 
" The bounding steed you pompously bestride 
Shares with his lord the pleasure and the pride. 
Some neither can for wits and critics pass, 
As heavy mules are neither horse nor ass." 

Pope. 
Laureate, roseate, animate, devote, dedicate, &c. (p. 104) 
are to be found elegantly used in prosaic as well as poetic dic- 
tion indiscriminately, and there is no reason for their rejec- 
tion, as they add grace and variety to English composition. 
" Imparadised in one another's arms." 
Impassioned, dispread, distrain, are peculiar to poetic 
diction, although in elevated phrase they may be legi- 
timately and elegantly applied. Noun and verb, commu- 
table in prose, and still more so ill poetic lore. Hence the 
root or radix of the verb proclaims the poetic energy (p. 122.) 



306 

" Eve, discovered soon the place of her retire" 
This word is now used for withdrawing in a commercial 
sense — as, retiring a hill. 

Instant, without disturb, they took alarm. 
" Uplifted imminent one stroke they aimed, 
That might determine, and not need repeat." 

Milton, Paradise Lost, 
" After short silence then, and summons read, 
The great consult began. 55 
The whole employ of body and of mind. 

Pope. 
" What she wills to do or say, 
Seems wisest, virtuosest, discreetest, best." 

Milton. 
"Whether the charmer sinner it or saint it. 

Pope. 
"Which way I fly is Hell— myself am Hell." 
The thought is not changed by thus enunciating it ; but 
with how much more force is it conveyed by laying the 
stronger emphasis on the word am. Take the comment 
from Milton 5 s own terms, viz. : — 
" Horror and doubt distract, 
His troubled thoughts, and from the bottom stir, 
The Hell within him, for within him Hell 
He brings and round about him, nor from Hell 
One step, no more than from himself, can fly 
By change of place — 

That glory then, — when thou no more wert good, 
Departed from thee." 
At that time, and to mark the sense we must lay the 
emphasis on the word then, followed by a pause. Nothing 
has occasioned more false recitation than terms of this 
class, for as many of them set down under the heads of 
conjunctions, prepositions, and adverbs, often change their 
class, have various uses and meanings, and as this dis- 
tinction can be marked only by the emphasis or ictus. 



307 

reciters habituated to consider the same term always in 
the same light, and knowing that these smaller parts of 
speech are seldom emphatic, are apt to pass them un- 
noticed, even when they are the most important words in 
the sentence — 

" Such pleasure took the serpent to behold, 
This flowery plat, the sweet recess of Eve, 
Thus early ! thus alone !" 

The importance of the sense conveyed by the sound 
thus, demands a suitable force of emphasis — as, thus 
early — thus alone — that is in a manner so consonant to 
the DeviPs wishes. Thus early, means so early — so very 
early — as we say in common parlance, She is so good. 

Milton who has copied the sublimity of Homer, and has 
transfused the beauties of all the learned poets into his 
compositions is yet no plagiarist. Dr. Johnson observes 
he was the least of all poets indebted to the ancients. He 
was imbued with their spirit and their rays were reflected 
on him. To a certain degree every learned author must 
be a plagiarist. Virgil acknowledged that he appropriated 
what was good of the poet Ennius, which he called culling 
pearls from dunghills, and it is verisimilar that Homer 
availed himself of the ballads of his cotemporaries and 
poets anterior to his time, and interwove their rhapsodies 
with his own; for poems as well as those written by 
Homer floated through Greece, and the isles of Greece 
for centuries before they were collected and adjusted by 
Pisistratus of Athens, a firm friend and attached to science, 
one of valour in the field and eloquence at home, who died 
B.C. 527, having reduced to 24 books in each epic, the 
poems of Homer relative to the siege of Troy, its antece- 
dents and its consequents. The famous author of the 
Analysis of Ancient Mythology, Jacob Bryant, had much 
misgiving as to the locality of Troy, or the siege of Troy 
divine, and wrote very astutely to disprove the received 

x 2 



308 

notion ; although it is generally admitted by the learned 
that the war actually took place in the sera ascribed to 
it, some 1100 B.C. Mr. Bryant is considered fanciful by 
some in his mythological disquisitions, and has given um- 
brage to the adherents of Homer by denying the veracity 
of the narrative of the epic, the greatest effort of human 
genius, if invention has this claim, as being the very foun- 
dation of poetry, which pours along like a fire that sweeps 
the whole earth before it, and as Pope remarks, in him 
only it burns every where clearly and irresistibly. 

He wrote also on the disputed locality of Malta, where 
St. Paul was wrecked, alleging it was on a little island 
called Melita in the Adriatic Sea, for the Sacred roll 
declares the ship in which the Apostle and his 275 souls were 
freighted, was tossed up and down in Adria, in this too he 
is considered fanciful. 

Homer, Virgil, Dante, Shakspere and Milton appear to 
be the poetic universal individualities and the great parent 
geniuses which have nursed and nourished all others, and 
from whom so much has been taken, as they also committed 
literary larceny on their gifted predecessors. A writer may 
steal wisely after the manner of bees without robbing or 
wronging any one. 

The bard of Avon says we are all arrant thieves, and 
playfully ascribes theft to the sun and moon and sea, and 
to all the powers of the universal frame of harmony, for 
from harmony this universal frame began. 

The following citations and illustrations are under the 
figure 

A ccommodation. 

With impetuous recoil and jarring sound 
The infernal doors. — Milton. 

Here the words are an echo to the sense. 

Light as the lightning glimpse, they ran, they flew. 

Amplification. — This is a figure that exaggerates the 



309 

circumstances of some action which is to be placed in a 
strong light, and may be termed Description, as that of 
Time. 

Time in advance behind him hides his wings, 
And seems to creep decrepit with his age. 
Behold him when passed by — what then is seen, 
But his broad pinions swifter than the wind. 

Description of the moon by Pope. 

Or, when the moon refulgent lamp of night, 
O'er heaven's clear azure spreads her sacred light. 
Again, in Adam's consternation on hearing that Eve 
had eaten the defended fruit. 

Adam, soon as he heard 
The fatal trespass done by Eve, amazed, 
Astonied stood and black — while horror chill 
Ran through his veins and all his joints relaxed, 
From his slack hand the garland wreathed for Eve 
Down dropped — and all the faded roses shed — 
Speechless he stood and pale. 

Antithesis is the opposite of Simile. 

Manners with fortunes, humours change with climes, 
Tenets with books and principles with times. 

Again : Reason is man's jjeculiar, instinct the brute's. 
(p. 128.) 

In the days of prosperity be joyful, but in the day of 
adversity consider. 

He hath put down the mighty from their seat, and 
exalted them of low degree. 

If I climb up into heaven thou art there, if I go down 
into hell, thou art there also. 

For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, and cir- 
cumcision is that of the heart. 

In the spirit and not in the letter, whose praise is not 
of men, but of God. 



310 

A very animated instance in Milton. 

Black as night, 
Fierce as ten furies, terrible as Hell, 
And shook a dreadful dart. 

Inanimate objects are incapable of action but not of 
passion. Ex : The lance rages with eagerness to destroy. 

Alliteration, — The author of Piers Plowman wrote in 

metre, but not after the manner of our rhymes, because 

his verses did not all end alike ; but three words at the 

last verse, which begins with some one letter, as — 

In a somer season, when sette was the sunne, 

I stope me into shrobbes, as I a shepe were. 

This work is ascribed to Robert Langland, a secular 
priest of Oriel Coll. Oxon. and was written about the 
middle of the 14th century. The first poetry of the Saxons 
was without rhyme, and so must have depended on the 
quantity of their syllables. See Chapter on Rhyme. 

Where Envy reads the nervous lines, 
She frets, she rails, she raves, she pines — 
Alas, no more methinks we wandering go 
Through dreary waste, and weep each others woe. 

It has been alleged that the ancients never used allitera- 
tion, but nearly ever author disproves the assertion, although 
they were giants in literature, and their taste so exquisite, 
that they would neither tolerate alliteration, rhyme, nor 
any other monkish jingling : only particles and expletives, 
(p. 112.) 

Alliteration was common in Ennius, Catullus, and the 
old poets, but became more rare in later writers until the 
decadence of literature, an example from Ennius. 

iC O Tite, tute Tate, tibi tanta, tyranne tulisti — " 

From Silius Italicus, 8, v. 205. Diva Deas parereparet. 

There are many instances in Plautus, and in Lucretius 
not less than thirty, and many even in Virgil. 

Homer indulged in the same vein, \p. 115. — 



311 

IloXXa $' avavTa, Karavra irapavra te, So^tar' r}\Qov. 
O'er hills, o'er dales, o'er crags, o'er rocks they go. 

Pope, 
^schylus— Prom. V. ?33. 
Srpf^/acra aavrr\v } gtu\ avriporovg yvag. 
Sophocles, Thebes, V. 1480. TtW l/c tekvwv tzkol 
£lg rag a$e\<pag rag Se rag e/uag \epag. 
Euripides. 'Ea-axra a wg \aaaiv EAArjvwv otrot. 
Apostrophe — This is a figure by which we address absent 
persons, or the inanimate objects which we personify, the 
most animated figure in rhetoric. In the Bible the sword 
of the Lord is thus personified and addressed. 

O thou sword of the Lord, how long will it be ere thou 
be quiet. 

Put up thyself into thy scabbard, rest and be still. — 
Jeremiah xlvii. 6. 

Adam, in his first surprise after his creation, thus apostro- 
phises every thing he sees. 

Thou sun, said I, fair light, 
And thou enlightened earth so fresh and gay, 
Ye hills and dales, ye rivers, woods and plains, 
And ye that live and move, fair creatures, tell, 
Tell if ye saw, how came I thus — how here ? 
Again: in Sophocles' Philoctetes he addresses the moun- 
tains and rocks of Lemnos. 

O mountains, rivers, rocks and savage herds — 
To you I speak, to you alone, I now 
Must breathe my sorrows. You are wont to hear 
My sad complaints, and I will tell you all 
That I have suffered from Achilles' son. 
Adam, bewailing his transgression, addresses all sur- 
rounding inanimate objects. 

"Why comes not Death, with one thrice acceptable stroke 
To end me ? Shall truth fail to keep her word, 
Justice herself not hasten to be just ? 
O woods, O fountains, hillocks, dales and bowers 



312 

"With other echo late I taught your shades 
To answer, and resound far other song ! 
Eve's regrets on leaving Paradise. 

Must I thus leave thee, Paradise ? Thus leave 
Thee, native soil ? these happy walks and shades 
Fit haunt of Gods ; where I had hoped to spend 
Quiet, though sad, the respite of that day 
"Which must be mortal to us both — O flowers 
That never will in other climate grow, 
Who now will rear ye to the sun, or rank 
Your tribes ? 
Aporia, or doubt. — This figure expresses the debate of 
the mind when involved in difficulty. Thus Dido, in Virgil, 
expresses herself after the loss of Eneas. 

"What shall I do ? What succour shall I find ? 
Become a suppliant to Hiarbas' pride, 
And take my turn to court or be denied ? 
Rather with steel thy guilty breast invade, 
And take the fortune thou thyself hast made. 
If it be required what are the sources of the sublime, 
we reply they are to be found every where in nature, and 
if correct, does the redditive correspond with the interro- 
gative? This is a grammatical term, and implies, does 
the representation in words or figure of speech answer to 
the original? 

Change of Person. — This appliance in rhetoric or poesy 
is not uncommon. The repetition of the noun is more 
elegant and forcible than the pronoun, as, How fares it with 
my Lord? How with my Lady? (p. 120.) 

Again, There is a transition in this couplet, from the ex- 
pression of endearment to that of courtesy. 
Now, now I seize, I clasp thy charms, 
And now you burst, ah, cruel from my arms. 
Combination. 

Reason's whole pleasure, all the joys of sense 
Lie in three words, Health, Peace and Competence. 



313 

There is a combination of superiority in the epigram- 
matic letter of Julius Csesar, Veni, vici, vici. Where two 
active verbs are followed by a so called neuter verb. (p. 15.) 
His glory is in the rapid sequel of events. 

Commination, or threat, where the word sker is the same 
as skirre, scour, scud. 

If they'll do neither, we will come to them, 
And make them sker away. 
All the stored vengeances of heavens fall 
On her ungrateful top. Strike her young bones 
You taking airs with lameness. 
No ; you unnatural hags, 
I will have such revenges on you both 
That all the world shall — I will do such things — 
What they are yet I know not, but they shall be 
The terrors of the earth. — K. Lear. 
Contrast. — He hath filled the hungry with good things 
and the rich he hath sent empty away. 

Climax, or gradation, is nothing more than a continued 
parallelism. 

Believe and shew the reason of a man. 
Believe and taste the pleasure of a God, 
Tell ye your children of it, and let your children tell 
their children, and their children unto another genera- 
tion. 

Again in Young. 

By silence, death's peculiar attribute, 
By darkness, guilt's inevitable doom, 
By darkness, and by silence, sisters dread. 
Redemption, 'twas creation more sublime, 
Redemption, 'twas the labour of the skies. 

Soft creeping words on words the sense compose, 
At every line they stretch, they yawn, they dose. 
But health consists with temperance alone, 
And peace, O Virtue, peace is all thy own. 



314 

Ah come not, write not, think not, once of me, 
Nor spare one pang of all I felt for thee. — Pope. 

Concession, or Epitrope. — By this figure, something is 
admitted by the advocate which might be disputed to obtain 
something we require granted, and which he thinks can not 
be refused. This figure is sometimes favourable at the 
beginning, but unfavourable at the close, as 

' ' I allow the Greeks learning and skill in many sciences, 
sharpness of wit and fluency of tongue ; and if you praise 
them for other excellencies I shall not contradict you, but 
that nation was never eminent for tenderness of conscience 
and regard to faith and truth." 

Ellipsis, or suppression. — This is the opposite of repeti- 
tion, a very common figure in speech, and of extensive 
utility, indispensable to elegance by excluding useless 
repetition, where the recurrent idea is understood, as I am 
that I am — ; Tis the survivor dies. My heart — no more. 

(P. 107.) 

Excitement. 

With thrilling clangor sounds the alarm of war — 
I am tortured e'en to madness when I think 
On the proud victor. 
Exclamation } or Ecphonesis, is a figure which expresses 
some emotion of the mind and is introduced by an inter- 
jective particle (p. Ill), as 

Oh the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and 
knowledge of God, 

How unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways 
past finding out. 

Vital spark of heavenly flame 
Quit, O quit this mortal frame. 
Trembling, hoping, lingering, flying, 
Oh the pain, the bliss of dying ! 
Cease, fond nature, cease thy strife, 
And let me languish into life. — Pope. 



315 

The whole of this splendid rhapsody may be considered 
one lengthened, long drawn out exclamation. 
Adam seeing Abel murdered exclaims, 

Alas, both for the deed and for the cause ! 

But have I now seen death ? Is this the way 

I must return to native dust ? Oh sight 

Of terror, foul and ugly to behold ! 

Horrid to think— how horrible to feel ! 
Again, Samson when blind, and in the power of his 
enemies, piteously pours forth his laments. 

O loss of sight, of thee I most complain ! 

Blind among enemies ! O, worse than chains, 

Dungeon or beggary or decrepit age. 

Expostulation is related to interrogation, by which the 
person injured urges the offender with all the questions he 
thinks can be proposed, and pleads with him for all the 
topics of reason, that he may convince him of the impro- 
priety of his conduct. 

" For what have you left unattempted — what have you 
held sacred ? What name shall I give to this assembly ? 
Shall I call you soldiers, who have besieged the General 
and Emperor's son with trenches and arms ? Citizens who 
contemptuously insult the authority of the Senate ?" 
In Milton, Abdiel expostulates with Satan. 

Shalt thou give law to God ? Shalt thou dispute 
With Him the points of liberty — who made 
Thee what thou art, and formed the powers of 
heaven ? 
Enallage — implies every change of speech — as one mood 
for another, and reciprocally one tense, one gender, &c, 
of which instances arc given p. 32, and, seem so arbitrary 
that grammar is at a discount in composition, and all 
transgression is law — Quintilian said, Aliud est grammaticc, 
aliud Latino loqui. (p. 239.) 



316 

Frequency. — That it may please Thee to succour, help and 
comfort all that are in danger, necessity and tribulation. 

No change could improve this collocation of words. 
Our writers have taken great pains to energise their com- 
positions, which gives them advantage in foreign competi- 
tion, because they never forget, that, 

True ease in writing comes from art, not chance, 
As those move easiest who have learned to dance. 
Gradation. 

O for the bright complexion, cordial warmth 
And elevating spirit of a friend ; 
But oh, the last, last what ? Can words express, 
Thought reach, the last, last silence of a friend. 
Harangues. — As comprising the beauties of oratory in a 
short space, I have translated from Sallust the speech of 
Catiline to the conspirators against the Roman Republic, 
for it shows in a brief specimen the logical division of such 
orations. The delivery of these set speeches occupied days, 
and were to the auditory what newspapers are to us, a 
resume of the politics of the time, as in the case of Demos- 
thenes on the Crown, where he answered the accusation of 
iEschines, which is esteemed the greatest oration which has 
descended to us, containing all beauties that can be com- 
prised in words and wisdom, which is the child of delibera- 
tion. A prompt, fluent, correct, unembarrassed and un- 
affected use of speech is the most pleasing and ornamental 
of accomplishments, and in a free state eloquence is the 
principal medium of good government, the most direct and 
honourable road to rank, power, and reputation. 

It is singular that from an indifferent speaker, as Plu- 
tarch affirms, this orator, who had great natural defects, 
should have surmounted all difficulties in his profession, 
which he carried to the greatest height attainable. He 
laboured amazingly, mentally and physically, and would 
never address an assembly without preparation, or subject 



317 

his fame to the fortune of the moment ; that is, after he 
had attained a name above every name in Eloquence. He 
thought that to teach others required preparation, for few 
could speak as from a supernatural impulse. He consi- 
dered action the chief agent in speaking, and that boldness 
is in business what action is in an orator. 

The harangue of Catiline to his accomplices, conspi- 
rators against the Roman Republic, is brief; but as it con- 
tains all the beauties and structure of an oration, I have 
set it down here in this my own translation of it. 

Sallust. Catil. Cap. xx. — Exordium. Had I not had, 
my countrymen, ample proofs of your bravery and attach- 
ment, this juncture had escaped us. Vain had been these 
vast hopes ; vain the universal dominion within our view. 
Nor had I been so rash to grasp uncertainties for certain- 
ties, with the aid of men, fickle and inactive ; but since, 
in various and important conjunctures, I have experienced 
your prowess and fidelity, I am induced to achieve an en- 
terprise, the greatest and most glorious that ever occurred, 
persuaded that the smiles and frowns of fortune will affect 
us equally, for to entertain the same aversions and the 
same desires, this, this is the very bond of friendship. 

Narration. But you, all of you, have been apprised of 
my views repeatedly. In fact, my soul is daily fired at 
the very thought of the wretched life we must lead, if we 
do not assert our liberty. For since the government has 
fallen into the power, nay, is under the absolute sway of 
an oligarchy, kings and tetrarchs have been their tribu- 
taries, nations and states have been taxed, while we brave 
and honourable men, nobles and commons, have been 
numbered among the herd, the mob, devoid of interest, 
destitute of authority, servile tools to those very men to 
whom, were the government rightly administered, we 
should be a terror. Hence all interest, power, honour, 
wealth, arc theirs j to us are consigned repulses, perils, 



318 

impeachments, penury. How long, ye bravest of the 
brave, will you tolerate such abuses ? 

Proposition. Is it not more preferable to die in the 
field, than to drag on a dishonourable life, the scorn of 
their insolence ? 

Confirmation. But, O ye immortal powers, victory is 
in our hands, age in its bloom, courage in its vigour. 
They, on the contrary, are on the decline, emaciated by 
luxury, and verging on the grave. We have only to 
begin, and the business is accomplished. For what man 
of spirit can allow them to riot in splendour and magnifi- 
cence, while we are in want of the necessaries of life. 
Nay, not even a friendly roof to shelter us from the 
inclemency of the seasons. Although they are for ever 
purchasing paintings, statues, massy plate of exquisite 
workmanship ; although they are for ever pulling down 
new edifices and rebuilding them — in a word, although 
they contrive every way to consume their colossal wealth, 
yet with all their extravagance, they can not exhaust their 
treasures. But what have we ? Poverty at home, debts 
abroad. Our circumstances are intolerable, our hopes 
desperate. 

Peroration, Arise, then, arise. Lo, that liberty, that 
glorious liberty for which we have so often sighed. Be- 
sides, riches, honour, glory, await us — these the rewards 
which fortune proffers to the conqueror. Let the case 
itself, the present juncture, the imminent danger, the spoils 
of war, excite you more than my voice. Elect me your 
general, or fellow-soldier. My brethren, my heart nor my 
hand shall never desert you. These things, as your 
adviser, I hope to execute with you, unless I am deceived, 
and you prefer slavery to empire. 

The difference between a Letter and an Oration is, that 
one should be attired like a woman, the other like a man. 
One with large side robes, long periods, parentheses, si- 



319 

miles, examples. A letter should be short and closely 
couched. This was the opinion of the judicious in all ages ; 
and Cicero, the model in both kinds, has realized these 
desiderata. 

The Song of Moses is another instance of poetry and 
oratory blended. — Deut. xxxii. 

Hyberbation is that figure by which there is a mixture, 
or inversion of the order of words, as mecum for cum me, 
when a word is divided into two parts, as hunc and cunque 
— quo me cunque. Parenthesis comes under here. Hy- 
pallage or change of case or tense, and anacoluthon or a 
non sequitur or no connection in the periods. 

Interrogation is a figure of speech, which by asking a 
question gives ardour and energy to discourse, it is enlivened, 
strengthened, and thrown more forcibly along by this 
figure. 

Demosthenes says — Would you perambulate the city, 
and ask what news ? What greater news can there be 
than that a Macedonian enslaves the Athenians, and lords 
it over Greece ? Is Philip dead ? No — but he is sick. 
And what advantage would you reap from his demise, for 
should aught happen to Philip, you yourselves would im- 
mediately raise up another Philip ? 

See in exemplification of this figure, the inimitable 
passage in the prince of Christian poets, Milton, where the 
serpent in his temptation of Eve, uses frequent interroga- 
tion. 

Ye shall not die, 
How should you? By the fruit ? It gives you life 
To knowledge. By the thrcatcner ? Look on me, 
Me who have touched and tasted, yet both live. 
Shall that be shut to man which to the beast 
Is open? Or will God increase his ire 
For such a petty trespass ? 
In this interrogation is the deception concealed, which 



320 

duped an easy unsuspecting mind ; here is the first lie ever 
told, and justifies the assertion that Satan is the father of 
lies. 

Metonomy. — This figure is of daily usage, where the 
matter is put for the materiate, as He died by steel, that is 
by the sword. Ex. : God draws the curtain of night. 

Omission, or paraleipsis, is a figure whereby an author 
pretends to conceal what he declares. " I do not mention 
the scandalous gluttony of my adversary, I pass his bru- 
tality. I say not a syllable of treachery, malice and 
cruelty." 

Parallelism j tinder which is taken Correlation. 
Pitifully behold the sorrows of our hearts, mercifully 
forgive the sins of thy people. 

In all time of tribulation, in all time of our wealth, 
in the hour of death and in the day of judgment. 
First, highest, holiest, best. 
Wisest, virtuest, discreetest, best. 
Holy, divine, good and amiable or sweet. 
Correlation. — 

Over the fish and fowl of sea and air, 
Air, water, % earth by fowl, fish, beast was flown, 
Was swum, was walked. 
A more easy correlation is no where to be found than in 
beauty's value by Shakespere. 

Beauty is but a vain, a fleeting good, 
A shining gloss that fadeth suddenly. 
A flower that dies when almost in the bud, 
A brittle gloss that breaketh presently. 
A fleeting good, a gloss, a glass, a flower, 
Lost, faded, broken, dead within an hour. 
This is another instance of beautiful correlation in com- 
position, when nature measures every impulse by reason, 
her impulses are as regular as they are diversified. When, 
therefore, the number of sentences are successively pro- 



321 

duced, whether for reciprocal illustration, collateral ex- 
hibition, or regular gradation, it is natural that their parts 
occur in analogical order and symmetry. Now this appears 
with peculiar lustre and dignity in the Sacred records, as, 

Heal the sick — cleanse the leper — raise the dead — cast 
out devils — freely ye have received freely give. Are they 
Hebrews? So ami. Are they Israelites? So am I. 
Are they the seed of Abraham? So am I. Again, 
2 Cor. xi. 22. Are they the ministers of Christ ? I speak 
as a fool (?'. e. in simplicity) I am more. In labours more 
abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more fre- 
quent, in deaths oft. Who is weak and I burn not ? 

Indirect Correlation. 

The blind and dumb both spake and saw. 

Direct Correlation. — That it may please thee to illu- 
minate all Bishops, Priests and Deacons, and both by their 
preaching and living, they may set it forth and shew it 
accordingly. 

Stood they or moved in station, motion, arms, 
Fit to decide the empire of great heaven. 
Not for himself he sees or hears or eats, 
Artists must choose his pictures, music, meats. 

Pope. 
So eagerly the fiend, 

O'er bog or steep, through strait, rough dense or rare, 
With hands, or wings, or feet pursues his way, 
And swims, or sinks, or wades, or creeps, or flies. 
Personification. — This figure is employed where any 
powers are called in aid to effect something, as thunder, 
lightning, hail — Virtues or Vices. 

The thunder 
Winged with red lightning and impetuous rage 
Perhaps has spent his shafts. ^ Milton. 

Pleonasm is redundancy of expression, and is the 



322 

opposite of ellipsis, which is defect or omission, as to live 
a life. Enjoy a joy, &c. Because the verb by itself is as 
equally significant as when joined to a substantive or other 
words, (p. 15, 20.) Should an adjective be added it is no 
longer pleonastic, because the verb there does not imply all 
the meaning. 
Reciprocity. — 

Dunce scorning dunce, beholds the next advance, 

But fop shews fop superior complaisance. 

Where wigs with wigs, with sword-knots sword-knots 

strive, 
Beaux banish beaux, and coaches coaches drive. 

Pope. 
Adjectives are frequently used in reference to the sub- 
ject, as before observed in this Tractate, (p. 1270 
Sedate and silent move the numerous bands. 
Silent the warrior smiled, and pleased resigned. — Iliad. 
Swift down the steep of heaven the chariot rolls. 
Adverbs are sometimes varied by er and erst, as Plain- 
lier shall be revealed. Sceptre and power I gladlier shall 
resign, (p. 141.) 

Either was formerly and properly used where we now 
employ each, as 

Here in the midst in either army's sight, 
And next the troops of either Ajax views. 
East by our side let either faithful swain 
To arms attend us, and their part sustain. 
In this couplet, either is said to be used for each, and 
their employed for his, but without foundation, for such 
an application of the terms was, in the day this couplet 
was written, perfectly analogous. The adoption of 
each for either is a capricious innovation, they are synony- 
mous, and may be retained for variety of expression. 

We have remarked on the true and analogical pronuncia- 
tion of either in p. 251, and we trust its original beauty 



323 

will not be discontinued, at least by men of taste. It is 
not earlier than this century that ei has been sounded like 
a diphthong — which it is not. It is the business of criti- 
cism to detect and exterminate errors, although embalmed 
in the sanctuary of science, (p. 45.) English pronuncia- 
tion is fixed, and will not bear any change, at least for the 
worst ; for no one can prefer niiher to the soft and analogical 
neether. 

Reflection. — The reflected picture of the young cock on 
the brink of the well in Gay is inimitable. 

This said, he mounts the margin's round, 

And prys into the depth profound. 

He stretched his neck, and from below 

"With stretched neck advanced a foe. 

With wrath his ruffled plumes he rears, 

The foe with ruffled plumes appears. 

Threat answered threat, his fury grew, 

Headlong to meet the war he flew. 
This is a copy from Milton. Eve painting her first 
appearance to herself. 

And laid me down 

On the green bank to look into the clear 

Smooth lake, that to me seemed another sky. 

As I bent down to look, just opposite 

A shape within the watery gleam appeared 

Bending to look on me — I started back — 

It started back, but pleased I soon returned, 

Pleased it returned as soon, with answering looks 

Of sympathy aud love. 
Repetition. — To deliver a message in the very words it 
is given, is founded in nature. 

Art thou he or do we look for another ? Lord, hadst 
thou been here, my brother had not died. While ye 
have light, believe in the light, that ye may be children 
of light. 



324 

Against our peace we arm our will, 
Amidst our plenty something still, 
For horses, houses, pictures, planting, 
To me, to thee, to him is wanting. 
The cruel something unpossessed 
Corrodes and leavens all the rest. 

Prior on Something. 
Milton never fails in this or in any other poetic excel- 
lence to blazon imperfections or beauties, whether in diver- 
gence or convergence. 

Oh, shame to man, devil with devil damned, 

Firm concord holds — men only disagree 

Of creatures rational. 

And in fierce hosting meet, who wont to meet 

So oft. 

With ruin upon ruin, rout on rout, 

Confusion worse confounded. 

Him first, him last, him midst and without end, 

Tho 5 fallen on evil days, 
On evil days tho 5 fallen, and evil tongues. 
For then the earth 
Shall all be Paradise, far happier place 
Than this of Eden, and far happier days. 
This word was gracefully pronounced Parades always, 
and not Paradzse, and was so written, as well as Paradies. 
As though I were in Paradis. — Gower. 
That be from thee far, 
That far be from thee, Father, who art judge 
Of all things made, and judgeth only right. 
Thus from the source of all perfection, Milton elegantly 
repeats with inversion after Moses. There are also touch- 
ing instances of exclamation repeated, as 

We have wronged no man, we have corrupted no man, 
we have defrauded no man. 

Again. Had ye believed Moses, ye had believed me, 



325 

for he wrote of me. — Not every one that saith, Lord, 
Lord. — And verily, verily, I say unto you. — A sword, 
a sword is sharpened. — The sword, the sword is drawn. 
Ezek. xxi. 9. — Awake, awake, put on strength, O Zion — O 
Earth, Earth, Earth, hear the word of the Lord. Jer. 
xxii. 29. 

Holy, holy Lord God Almighty, who was, and is to come. 
And the glory which thou gavest me, I have given them., 
that they may be one, as we are one. 

This excellence has been preserved by holy Milton, the 
faithful imitator of the sacred penmen. 
Where with me, 
All my redeemed may dwell in joy and bliss, 
Welcome with me, as I with thee am one. 
Prepare the way, a God, a God appears, 
A God, a God the vocal hills reply, 
The rocks proclaim the approaching Deity. 
Simile or Comparison. 

As in smooth oil the razor best is whet 
So wit is by politeness sharpest set, 
Their want of edge for their offence is seen, 
Both pain us less when exquisitely keen. 
Suppression or Aposiopesis.— A figure by which one in a 
rage or perturbation of mind suddenly breaks off discourse. 

But oh, Ulysses deeper than the rest, 

That sad idea wounds my anxious breast. 

If thou be'est He, but oh ! how fallen ! 

Nothing my Lord or if 1 know not what. 

Lord Cardinal ! if thou think'st on heaven's bliss, 

Hold up thy hand, make signal of that Hope 

He dies, and makes no sign. 

Syllepsis, is when the sense differs from the import of 

the words, hence the meaning and not the words is to be 

taken. In the learned languages words may differ in 

gender or number or both, as Turba ruunt. (p. 212.) Or 



326 

when the relative is referred to an antecedent that has not 
been expressed, but of which we form an idea by the mean- 
ing of the whole sentence, (p. 98.) To this figure are referred 
those short parenthetical modes of speech so graceful in 
Latin. 

Suspension or Anastrophe. — A figure keeping the hero in 
suspense and attentive by expectation of that in which the 
speaker purposes to conclude his oration. 

Oh God, darkness is not more opposite to light, frost to 

fire, pain to pleasure, or death to life, than sin is to thee. 

With what sweetness does Eve carry on that rapturous 

speech to Adam, and with what grateful surprise does it 

terminate. 

Without thee is sweet, 
Sweet is the breath of morn, her rising sweet, 
With charm of earliest birds. 
Critics have observed that neither Homer nor Virgil 
have mentioned the singing of birds, but passages are 
found in which this obvious delight to any observer of 
nature is pourtrayed ; while ominous birds, and divining 
birds are cited frequently, as are those who gave omens by 
flight or by singing. Hence, the phrase, Si avis occinuerit ; 
sing or chirp inauspiciously. 
Variation. 

Anthares had from Argos travelled far, 
Alcides' friend and brother of the war ; 
Now falling by another's wound, his eyes 
He casts to heaven, on Argos thinks, and dies. 
Each of these words imply some pursuit, or object re- 
linquished, but from different motives. 

Milton is far from forgetting the obscurity which sur- 
rounds the most incomprehensible of existences, but with 
the majesty of darkness round circles his throne. 

Dark with excessive light thy skirts appear. 
He had the secret of preserving this idea, when he 



327 

seemed to depart farthest from it, as described in the light 
and glory, which flow from the Divine presence. In his 
poetic flights he had an excellence of style with all har- 
mony and beauty of numbers, and in his majestic prose 
writings, his style was above prose and below poetry. 

That style is best which couches the most meaning in 
the fewest words. In poetry and prose every diversity of 
grammar and construction is employed, though some have 
despised musical arrangement; so that the mysteries of speech 
may be acquired from the numberless examples of poetic 
diction, which are various and gorgeous as sunbeams. Here 
I introduce some grammatical peculiarities in conjunction 
with poetry, which was one of the objects I had in view in 
treating of figures of speech. 

" Let the blind beggar dance, the cripple sing, 
The son a hero, lunatic a king." — Pope. 
Here the definite article the is suppressed before lunatic. 

Now thousand tongues are heard in one loud din. 
Here the indefinite article a is omitted, (p. 1270 

Alike in what it gives or what denies. 
Here the pronoun it is suppressed, and in the following 
line— (p. 330.) 

Is this too little, would you more than live ? 
The verb adjective do is superseded by the principal, and 
in the next citation the verb essential by the specifying 
adverb, (p. 61.) 

Once on a flock bed but repaired by straw, 
With tapestried curtains never meant to draw. 
In the following verse the preposition in is left out. 

In wit a man, simplicity a child. 
Here the sign of the infinitive is wanting, (p. 61.) 

When to repress, and when indulge our flights. 
The following are beautiful examples of elliptic diction. 
Who can the past rccal, or done undo ? 

But to create 
Is greater than created to destroy. 



328 

Nor more, but fled. 

I overjoyed could not forbear aloud. 

He thus to Eve in few. 

My earthly by his heavenly overpowered. 
These are extracts from the poet of Christians, Milton, 
who availed himself of every species of composition known 
to the ancients, and copied largely from holy writ. The 
law of God he read and found it sweet, made it his whole 
delight, and in it grew to such perfection that he could 
transfuse its beauties, and soar with its inspirations. 

In this poet we find that the truest ornament and 
greatest benefactors of a nation are its learned and virtuous 
authors, who reverently remarks, that the end of learning 
is to repair the ruin of our first parents, by beginning to 
know God aright. 

Perhaps Pope has obtained the highest name for versi- 
fication, although Dryden, superior in intellect to his 
successor, reduced our language to melody. 

The long resounding march and energy divine. 
The annexed couplet was said to be a peculiar favourite 
of the Swan of Thames, and was prized by him for its har- 
mony and description, more than any pair of his numerous 
verses, and it may be admitted he had reason good for 
his predilection. 

Lo, where Mseotis sleeps, and hardly flows 
The freezing Tanais through a waste of snows. 

The ear of Dr. Johnson was not struck, and he could 
discern no reason for the preference. Peradventure his 
aversion to music, a defect inherent in many of the wisest, 
precluded the power of appreciating such lines. 

To the beauty of another couplet in Pope's composi- 
tions I will advert, in which perhaps the criticism of Dr. 
Johnson is not in accordance with just judgment. 

Flies o'er the unbending corn and skims along the main. 

Here the critic wonders that the celerity of Camilla 
should be expressed in so protracted a line, and in one of the 



329 

most unbending in poetry. But it describes graphically 
the motion of passage, like that of a bird, a partridge, 
brushing the surface lightly, with a long drawn-out sweep. 

It is astonishing what instances of grandeur appear in 
Milton. Not only every metre and sound echoing to the 
sense, but the most apt and gorgeous language with sub- 
limity of idea that can be conceived, being indebted as he 
was to the sacred roll, and warmed by the glowing fire 
which touched Isaiah's hallowed lips. 

The admirable critique of Addison, graceful and truth- 
ful as it is, remains still below the merit of our great epic 
poet. The sublimity of Homer, being of human tincture, 
is in this particular inferior to Milton, and of Shakspere 
the same may be predicated, although his magic could not 
copied be, or surpassed save by Milton, when aided "by 
Iter who dictated to him slumbering, " and reinforced his 
easy unpremeditated lay. 

" Hail, holy Light 

May I address thee unblamed." 

For the powerful use to be made of adjectives, (p. 129.) 
there is a beautiful example in the elegy on the death of an 
unfortunate lady, by Pope, shewing the effect produced by 
the repetition of words, with a similar termination. 

By foreign hands thy dying eyes were closed, 
By foreign hands they decent limbs composed, 
By foreign hands thy humble grave adorned, 
By strangers honoured and by strangers mourned. 
The inverted correlation in Milton of the three abstracts 
to their concretes is admirable, (p. 128.) 

But then thou must outlive 
Thy youth, thy strength, thy beauty, which will change 
To withered, weak, and gray. 
Poetry delights in concretes for abstracts, (p. 86) as, 
If ample of dimension, vast of size, 
Even thee an aggrandising impulse give. — Young, 



330 

Again — 

And reduce to nothing this essential. 
From one entire globose stretched into longitude. 
Tenfold the length of this terrene. 
By tincture or reflection, they augment 
Their small peculiar. 
Whose intellectual more I shun. 
Prevenient grace descending had removed 
The stony from their hearts. 
And since in prose, the adjective is often converted into 
the substantive, as necessaries for things, so in poetry, 
(p. 128.) 

The fulness of the Deity breaks forth 
In inconceivables to men and Gods. 
About him all the sanctities of heaven. 
The substantive being the qualifier of another, (p. 123.) as, 
Uprose the victor angels. 

Greater now in thy return, 
Than from the giant angels. 
Here the verb-adjective do is superseded by the prin- 
cipal, (p. 327.) 

Is this too little ? Would you more than live ? 
Thus also is the adjective elegantly used for the adverb, 
as, (p. 126.) Her hand soft touching. 

The application of the adjective is every where more 
energetic than the adverb, as remarked page 127. 
Sudden she rages like the troubled main, 
Now sinks the storm and all is calm again. 
Sometimes the verb is used for the adjective or the ad- 
verb, as, 

Down the slope hills. 
Bore him slope downward. 
See the blind beggar dance, the cripple sing, 
The sot a hero, lunatic a king. 
Where the ellipsis is in the suppression of the definit 
and indefinite articles, (pp. 80, 85, 327.) 



331 

Who finds not Providence all good, all wise 
Alike in what it gives and what denies. 

Here is an instance of the repeated subject or governing 
pronoun, (p. 86.) 

Take nature's path and mad opinions leave, 
All states can reach it and all heads conceive. 

Here again the repeated object or pronoun governed. 
Whose, which is usually appropriated to ' persons is 
applied by rhetoricians to inanimate objects, as The ques- 
tion whose solution I require, (p. 96.) 

Eternity whose end no eye can reach. 
From whose bourn no traveller returns. 

Whose is used instead of which, because the expression 
is prosaic, and can not be so readily admitted into 
elevated poetry. Dr. Lowth remarks, that the highest 
poetry loves to consider every thing as bearing a personal 
character, but in these passages, there is no shadow of 
personal character or personification. It is a rhetorical 
figure, by which inanimate objects are represented as per- 
sons. Ex. : — 

Nature cries aloud through all her works. 

Joy has her tears and transport has her death. 

Wisdom has length of days in her right hand. 

The deep uttered his voice. — Habakkuk iii. 10. 
These words and ideas are properly personified, because 
they are accompanied with personal attributes, so that all 
intellectual adjuncts contribute to the formation of ideas. 
In Milton is a fine application of the personal pronoun to 
an abstract quality, virtue, and the substitution of her for 
its, which is never once found in either Testament. See 
page 8, 101. 

Abashed the devil stood, 

And felt how awful Goodness is, and saw 

Virtue in her shape how lovely. Saw, and pined 

His loss. 



332 

Prose and verse, every style without distinction admits, 
one's elders, one's betters, for a person's elder, or better 
than one. Thus poetry subjoins to a possessive pronominal, 
a comparative as an appropriate agent. 

Horn an and Greek grammarians, know your better, 
Author of something yet more great than Letter. 

Style is jejune from a paucity of ideas more than from 
a paucity gf expression, and we must be as cautious to 
multiply but with ideas, as to make no picture when 
nothing is represented. Eloquence is not the product of 
art, but art is derived from it, and mends the slowness of 
genius. Correspondent to the art of building ideas into 
thought, and thought into reasoning, must be that of 
framing words into a sentence, and sentences into dis- 
course, for the accomplishing of which, there must be the 
mens divinor, and a gravitation towards living wisdom, 
and although our utmost hope be not realized, for more 
will have to admit than like it, ct I have loved wisdom 
more than she has loved me," we should not be dis- 
heartened, but go on our way rejoicing, and bate not a 
jot of heart or hope. A book may be amusing with faults 
and to spare, and be dull without any very risible absurdity ; 
authors may publish, and books be in a continual state of 
multiplication, and but for books intellect would suffer 
catalepsy, or die of famine and mental inanition. 

It is astonishing what progress has been made in science 
and literature, even since the dawn of this century. New 
discourses, fresh literary and scientific indagations, old 
MSS. brought to light, and power of production have been 
evinced " beyond thought's compass." 

La Bruyere vainly asserted in his time, that we were come 
into the world too late for new discoveries, and that both 
nature and sentiment were exhausted. There may be still 
regions of fiction and fact yet unexplored, and what phy- 
sical or mechanical inventions shall be left for future ages 
we have slight conception ; they may resemble celestial 



333 

beatitudes, which eye hath not seen nor ear heard. So will 
it continue on this sublunary ball of earth, till we reach 
regions beyond the grave, for this life is a mystery, and 
when it ceases, then will begin the mystery of death and 
its sequel, when we may find that God alone is a simple 
uncombined spirit, and that this world is the exclusive 
theatre of man's past and future existence, so we must feel 
that sublimity is a mystery, (p. 288.) 

We are sent here to exercise our faculties, neither is 
there aught physical nor metaphysical, which is unlawful 
for man, the paragon of animals, to investigate. Time it- 
self is nothing, it is what is effected in time, and this world 
will not end until man attains all the perfection inherent 
in his being; and in proportion as minds are elevate, 
though they come in contact with a world of sin and im- 
perfection, like sunbeams, they may traverse pollution and 
recede unsullied. 

As thought and spirit were given from above so was 
speech, in which all should excel, because in that attribute 
we surpass all mortal creation, and should accustom our- 
selves, aristocrats by birth or intellect, 

To use a language raised above the vulgar, 
Just as we wear a more superb attire. 

It is within the scope of all well educated people, 
although it may alone be within the province of the pcet 
or orator, " Est finitimus oratori poeta," to reach the 
pathetic, which Cicero calls the mistress of affections, 
a power which rouses and alarms the passions, and is 
considered the sceptre of eloquence ; it is this power which 
commands the world, which rears the stooping, bends the 
erect, and makes captive even reluctance and opposition. 

Hence, it is hoped that these citations from poetic pieces, 
shewing their dependence on figures of speech, and the 
illustrations of grammatical laws or peculiarities, may 
prove acceptable to all who favour rhetoric and cherish 
poetry. 



334 



On Rhyme. 



With respect to rhyming poetry, however untoward its 
prospects might be, from the circumstance of its birth 
and nurture, yet in time it has arrived at such a degree 
of strength as to invade the possessions of harmony and 
numbers in the region of poetry, the genuine children of 
knowledge and politeness, which it subdued, and reduced 
to a state of slavery and an implicit obedience to its 
despotic power. The barbarism of its origin can not be 
doubted, since it has ever been found amongst the most 
rude and savage nations, but was not even known to be 
polished and refined. Nor have we to seek from what 
stock it comes, when we see that it is so congenial with all 
the tongues derived from the Gothic root, that in these it 
is considered an ornament and gives delight ; but in the 
Greek and Latin, far from adding beauty to them, it 
becomes ridiculous and creates distaste, as the specimens 
we have of it illustrate in its use, begun about the end of the 
fourth century. So that any nation proud of its poetry, 
boasts only of its barbarism, and is so far on a footing 
with those savages that wear rings and gewgaws in their 
ears and noses, staining their face and lips by way of 
ornament. And should any people be fortunately pos- 
sessed of a language equally capable of every charm and 
power of numbers with those of the ancients, yet give the 
preference to rhyme, how would they differ from the wild 
Indian who barters his diamonds and precious stones for 
bits of glass and tinkling baubles. Rhyme has not only 
been a false ornament to English poetry, but has also 
destroyed much of its true beauty, and has in a measure 
unharmonised our language. An objection to rhyme is 
the restraint it throws on the fluency of the periods. The 
word reim in its origin, means to count, and this poetry 



335 

abounded in rhyme and alliteration. Like some kinds of red 
paint, that applied to the face, gives it an artificial glow, 
but the poisonous quality of which, by constant use devours 
the natural bloom, shrivels the skin, and destroys the con- 
stitution. So that a custom begun through an accidental 
pallor, from a weakly habit of body, or indulged through 
wantonness may in time become not a matter of choice, 
but of necessity. "When the English language was in its 
first state of rudeness, like others derived from the Gothic 
original, it abounded so in monosyllables and words art- 
lessly composed of dissonant and discordant letters, that 
all attempts in our poets towards introducing numbers and 
harmony into their measure must have proved nugatory. To 
supply their place, they were compelled to recur to rhyme. 
But when it was enriched and refined by the culture of the 
learned languages, with stores of well formed and euphonic 
words, composed of different and proper numbers of sylla- 
bles, it had then been easy to establish new and harmo- 
nious measures suited to the genius of the recently im- 
proved tongue. But, on the contrary, the sole use made of 
these acquisitions was to augment and extend the empire 
of rhyme. Exotic words were not admitted as denizens, 
but treated as prisoners, and without regard to their illus- 
trious descent, were robed in slavish dresses, and chained 
to the car. 

The merciless poets, with a cruelty like that of Pro- 
crustes, dragged all that were of comely stature to the bed 
of rhyme, and lopped them to that size ; nor did those 
natives who resembled them share a better fate. What- 
ever disorders there might have been in the language 
before, this was the first blow given to its constitution, 
and the first disease that seized its vitals. Words of two syl- 
lables were reduced to one, of three to two, and so on. 
This was done by a general law with so little regard to 
sound, that vowels were banished, and consonants clustered 



336 

together. Nor can a cause be assigned for this, but in 
order to increase the number of rhyme. For as the final 
syllables of our heroic measure must be long or accented, 
no word, terminating in a short or unaccented syllable 
could be used. Against this, the poets found a remedy, 
by throwing out the vowels of every such syllable, and 
crowding the consonants into the preceding. This prac- 
tice is humourously described by Swift in the Tatler. "Thus 
we cram one syllable and elide words, in which, some have 
indulged themselves so loosely, as to give a different pro- 
nunciation to the same words in different places, according 
as it best suited the present occasion." The same cause 
has also affected our language, not a little, in regard to 
the sense and meaning of words. 

This will be obvious to any who has studied our rhymes, 
and seen with how little ceremony they have used words, 
that furnished them with a lucky rhyme, though at the 
expense of precision, and this may be one of the chief 
sources of the very vague signification of some words. 

Thus has rhyme proved a considerable enemy to our 
tongue, in all its essential as well as ornamental qualities, 
and in proportion as its influence increased, that of sound, 
harmony, numbers, expression, energy, perspicuity and pre- 
cision have been diminished. And though the general 
opinion be that the refinement of our language may be 
dated from the time the real refinement began in rhyme, 
in the days of Dryden ; yet this may be shewn to be ori- 
ginally an error in judgment founded on false appearances, 
since corroborated by time and custom, and that our 
language, instead of a progressive motion towards perfec- 
tion, which it is judged to have had by incautious critics, 
has in reality been describing a circular motion, and con- 
stantly though imperceptibly tending towards the point of 
its own original barbarism. This may be seen by collating 
its present with its past condition in that respect. The 



337 

great defects of our tongue, in its rude primary state, were 
that it was linked by as few vowels as possible. This fault 
it had in common with all other tongues, previous to their 
state of cultivation, but especially those of the northern 
nations, the roughness of whose nature and manners seem 
to have imparted a roughness to their speech. When by 
conquest commerce, the introduction of literature and of 
the arts and sciences, our tongue became enriched with 
numbers of words borrowed from other languages, or else 
new coined, it was rendered only more copious and fit for 
use, but it received little or no benefit in point of sound or 
harmony. For the new and adopted words were compelled 
to bend to the genius of the natives, and on their admis- 
sion were despoiled of their ornamental vowels, and in 
many of their better sounding consonants were changed 
for those of a rougher kind, that were more in use and 
familiar to the ear. They were all reduced to one, or to 
as few syllables as possible, by cutting off" their initial 
vowels or their termiuations. Thus out of expendo was 
made spend, extraneous came strange, debitum debts* 
dubito doubt, clericus clerk, spiritus spright. 

Our first poets found it impossible to produce any thing 
harmonious out of materials so discordant, and were there- 
fore obliged to content themselves with the single and poor 
ornament of rhyme. Those that succeeded them endea- 
voured all they could to remedy the defects of our lan- 
guage, and make it capable of numbers, by adding length 
to words and increasing the number of vowels. This was 
begun by Sir John Gowcr, and afterwards carried to a 
great height by his disciple Chaucer ; though the language 
had not as yet arrived at sufficient perfection to admit dis- 
carding rhyme entirely, and relying wholly on numbers ; 
yet by keeping rhyme in its proper subordinate state, it was 
daily tending towards it. For in the days of Chaucer, 
rhyme was considered in its true light, the lowest part of 



338 

poetry, who may be said to be tbe first of our versifiers 
who wrote poetically, while Lydgate, a monk of Bury, his 
cotemporary, induced a more settled condition of writing. 
Neither sound nor meaning were sacrificed to it, when- 
ever their interests became incompatible rhyme was 
obliged always to give way ; it was thought less evil to 
have an indifferent rhyme than to maim the sense or pro- 
nunciation. No words were contracted, no vowels thrown 
out of syllables to make room for that, on the contrary, 
they prefixed initial and added final vowels, as often as 
possible. The termination e was always sounded. The 
words were generally lengthened by the addition of eth 
and ed in their variations ; and many nouns as well as verbs 
by en instead of es, as shoen for shoes, iperceiven for per- 
ceives. But all these steps towards rendering our tongue 
completely fit for numbers and measures were defeated by 
some, who afterwards arose, and who have been styled the 
refiners of our tongue, when in fact they have been the 
corrupters of it. Some that were possessed of a happy 
facility in rhyming, so level to the capacity of all people, 
influenced the taste of the nation, and consequently gave 
rhyme the first place in poetry. 

This usurper, like all others, exercised his power tyran- 
nically, and the whole language submitted to his will. 
Then it was that our vowels were again discarded, accord- 
ing to the old barbarous rule, and the consonants were 
clustered together as if curdled. Then it was that the 
initial and final syllables were lopped, and monosyllables 
again multiplied. E final became mute, eth was changed 
into the hissing s } and ed was dispoiled of its vowel, with 
innumerous other corruptions. And all this with no other 
view than to increase the number of rhymes. Had this 
been used as poetical licence only, the constitution of our 
language had not been impaired by it. But the poets 
knew too well that if words were written or enunciated 



339 

differently at the end of lines from what they were in 
other places, rhyme would have but a precarious existence, 
and would be soon deniched. They therefore abridged 
their words in the same manner in all parts of the verse ; 
and not content with this, they introduced the same cus- 
tom into prose. Thus has the evil been irretrievably spread 
through the substance as well as the form of our tongue. 
Whoever will but cast his eye over a few pages of Chaucer 
and will collate them with those of any other poet, will 
find by the number of apostrophes in the latter, that the 
proportion of vowels to consonants was greater in his days 
than at present, and consequently the words of our lan- 
guage was better constituted at that time to give pleasure 
to the ear in point of sound. 

All those corruptions will, on reflection, appear to have 
been owing to the neglect of the study of oratory ; for had 
the art of speaking been made a necessary branch of edu- 
cation, which it certainly should have been, our language 
had soon, like the Roman, been fixed on invariable rules. 
The care of it, in regard to sound and pronunciation, had 
then belonged to their natural guardians — the public 
speakers — who were more interested in the proper support 
of those rules, as they addressed their words only to the 
ear, nor had they allowed this province to be usurped by 
the poets, whose works are chiefly submitted to the eye. 
The poets, in that case, must have taken their standard of 
sound and pronunciation from the orators, who had cer- 
tainly the better right to fix it ; whereas, by this neglect 
our speakers have been obliged to follow the poets in their 
capricious changes of pronunciation and in the Gothic 
sounds again restored by them, through the amputation of 
syllables and banishment of vowels, in order to bringdown 
our words to their low standard. Had the art of reading 
and speaking well been studied by all who applied them- 
selves to literature, people in general would have had some 

z 2 



340 

rational principles and stated rules to guide them in these 
points, and had never suffered so absurd and pernicious 
innovations to obtain. But, having neither precept nor 
example, they were without judgment or taste, and there- 
fore were admirably fitted to follow with blind zeal those 
writers most pleasing to them or most fashionable. The 
prevalent ignorance or want of taste compelled the poets 
also to adapt their measure to the capacity of their readers ; 
for it is obvious that had knowledge and taste been more 
general, all who were possessed of genius would have 
studied numbers and measures only, and left rhyme to 
pretenders and men of inferior capacity. But to what 
purpose was it to be at great pains and cost to collect 
pearls to throw them before mere animals? Numbers, 
cadence, and harmony in measure can no more be per- 
ceived by persons, who can not read with propriety and 
grace than the charm of musical composition can be 
known from a view of the notes by one who is not ac- 
quainted with their powers. There are few ears so dull 
that are not sensible to rhyme, and this it was that made 
it of general use among all that wished to have many 
readers, all that wrote with a view to profit or reputation. 
But under whatever necessity the French or other mo- 
dern tongues may be to use rhyme, and the imperfect rule 
of measure which they employed, the English alone, from 
the very genius and constitution of the language, need not 
submit to those restraints. On the contrary, from what- 
ever concurrence of circumstances it has happened, it may 
be proved to be superior in its qualities, not only to all 
the modern, but, on the whole, to the admired languages 
of antiquity. Whether it be, as in the well-known story 
of the painter's sponge, that the casual blending of the 
colours produced a more natural foam on the horse than 
the utmost skill of the paintbrush could have drawn, so the 
variety of tongues out of which ours has been composed 



341 

has formed one more finished in its nature than the utmost 
labour or art of man could have contrived; or from what- 
ever cause it may proceed, the fact is indubitable, that we 
are possessed of one more capable of answering all the 
purposes of speech, whether of use or ornament, than any 
that has ever existed. 

Were our language studied and improved to that degree 
of perfection of which it is susceptible, it would appear 
that the qualities of sound to fit it to all sorts of poetical 
composition are blended in more happy proportions than 
in any other, and that we have on that account as great 
an advantage over the ancients in point of numbers, 
as the invention and improvement of our musical instru- 
ments have given us in respect to harmony. But in both 
cases we have failed of the end, by an abuse or neglect of 
the means which could give us the superiority. An inge- 
nious treatise on musical expression has laid open the 
sources of the bad taste that prevails with respect to that 
art. Music consists of tune and time. As the fate of its 
sister, poetry, seems to be similar, and from similar causes, 
I shall use what he has said of the one to elucidate what 
I have advanced with relation to the other. He remarks 
that, properly speaking, there are but three circum- 
stances on which the worth of any musical composition can 
depend — these are melody, harmony and expression. 
When these three are united in their full excellence, the 
composition is then perfect ; if any of these be wanting or 
imperfect, the composition is proportionably defective. 
The chief endeavour, therefore, of the skilful composer 
must be to unite all various sources of beauty in every 
piece, and never so far regard or idolise any one of them 
as to despise and omit the other two. 

Every reader of discernment will see at once that this 
is analogous to the numbers of poetry. lie proceeds to 
shew the present errors and defects in these respects. 



342 

The first error we shall note is, where the harmony, and 
consequently the expression, is neglected for the sake of 
the air, or rather an extravgant modulation. The extreme 
of running all our music into one single part, to the utter 
neglect of all true harmony, is a defect more essential 
than the neglect of modulation only, for harmony is the 
basis of all musical composition. Is not this similar to 
the practice of our poets in making rhyme the chief object 
of their attention, and using, as much as possible, one 
uniform movement in their verses, to the great prejudice 
of harmony and expression? In accounting for the 
spreading of this false taste, he assigns the following as 
the chief cause : — 

" It may be affirmed with truth, that the false taste, or 
rather the total want of taste, in those that hear and that 
always assume to themselves the privilege of judging, has 
often produced this low species of music ; for it must be 
owned that this kind of composition is apt, above all 
others, at first hearing, to strike an unskilful ear, and 
hence masters have often sacrificed their art to the gross 
judgment of an unrefined audience/" 

Is not this directly parallel to what has been said of 
poets and their readers ? He has assigned a quite con- 
trary cause for a corruption of a different kind, when com- 
paring the state of modern with ancient music. He says, 
from the structure of these instruments we can not form 
any vast idea of their powers, they seem to have been in- 
ferior to those in use at present, but which, indeed, being 
capable of as much execution as expression, are rendered 
only more liable to be abused. Thus the too great com- 
pass of our modern instruments, tempting as much the 
composer as performer to exceed the natural bounds of 
harmony, may be one reason why some authors have 
warmly espoused the cause of ancient music, and ex- 
claimed against that of modern music. 



343 

Here, indeed, the comparison does not hold. Our poets, 
far from running riot on account of their abundance, have 
starved themselves in the midst of plenty, and through 
their want of skill in the management of their instru- 
ments, instead of producing the great variations of tones 
of which it is capable, they have confined themselves to a 
few simple modulations, which make it appear to have a 
little less compass than those of the ancients. 

And this was a natural consequence of not studying our 
language, without which it was impossible we could know 
its peculiar grace or force, or perceive what sort of num- 
bers were best suited to its genius. Nothing was left us 
in this case but imitation, and as it was soon found that 
the Roman measures could not be adopted into our tongue, 
we followed the track of our neighbours, and built our 
poetry on their rules. Thus did we submit through choice 
to all the imperfections under which theirs laboured through 
necessity. We blindly considered our language as formed 
upon the same Gothic model with other European tongues, 
and, through want of inquiry, did not know that ours alone 
had retained all the qualities that gave charms to ancient 
poetry, besides some peculiar to ourselves which, properly 
used, give us a superiority over them. We did not know 
that amidst all their variety of measures in their different 
species of poetry, there is not one to which we either have 
not, or may not have, something analogous in ours, and 
for the most part, superior in its kind. Our blindness in 
this respect is the more extraordinary because it is a thing 
no longer in embryo, to be seen only through microscopes, 
but we have proofs of it glaring as daylight, and the full 
grown perfect productions arc obvious to the senses. But 
we have eyes and see not, ears have we and hear not. How 
few know that Milton docs not equal or exceed Homer and 
Virgil in aught so much as in numbers. And if it can be 
proved that we excel them in that respect in the more 



344 

sublime compositions of epic and tragic poetry, no one 
can pretend to say that we may not compete with them 
even in lyric strains, if our language be cultivated and re- 
stored to its purity. We have one instance at least on 
which to ground this opinion, which is, that the English 
can boast of the most finished ode that was ever produced 
in any language in point of variety, harmony, and expres- 
sion in its numbers, and were it not disfigured by rhyme, 
it must, in the opinion of the most delicate and unpreju- 
diced judges, bear away the palm from all antiquity — I 
mean Dryden's Ode to St. Cecilia. If our language in 
its corrupt state were capable of so much, what might we 
not hope from it, were it polished and refined ? Should 
we recover a true taste, and by discarding rhyme, make 
room for our exiled vowels ? who knows, when the sound 
of our words were rendered more melodious, what delight- 
some measures a true genius might yet discover, and what 
yet bold Pindaric flights he might take when his wings 
were full grown, and his fetters struck off? Lest we 
should too hastily determine with respect to the number 
and kinds of measure that the genius of our tongue will 
admit by what has been done, be it remembered that 
Horace, the li numerosus Horatius," was the first that dis- 
covered to the Romans the variety of numbers of which 
their language was susceptible, although it had been for 
some time in the utmost state of perfection before he began 
to write. 

The general ignorance that has prevailed in respect to 
this point will not appear surprising to any one who re- 
flects, that it is impossible to know anything of poetic 
numbers without skill in reading. The verses of a poet, 
and the compositions of a master of music, are precisely on 
a par. Let us suppose a country in which the science of 
music were at a low ebb, and the instruments proportion- 
ably poor — let us suppose that men of the most eminent 



345 

genius in the art should arise in that country, could they 
shew them beyond what was in the compass of their in- 
struments to execute ? Suppose one of extraordinary abi- 
lity should be able to set down on paper compositions of 
the sublimest harmony, must they not be totally un- 
known, were it impossible to have them executed ? Is it 
not to be supposed that all musicians who sought either 
fame or profit, would in such a country restrict themselves 
to such strains and modulations as were best suited to 
their instruments, without lavishing their time in laborious 
researches into useless theory which could not be reduced 
to practice ? Could it be expected that any genius, ever 
so towering, should be so disinterested as to employ himself 
entirely in works which could add neither to his fame nor 
profit, while alive, in hope that proper instruments might 
afterwards be invented, which in the hands of able per- 
formers might display their beauties, and gain him honour 
with distant posterity ? Nay, let us suppose that he could 
invent proper instruments, or import them, with proper 
performers from some other country, would he not find it 
difficult to alter an established national taste, till the art 
were first studied, and a true taste introduced, founded on 
the knowledge of the rules ? It would be difficult to per- 
suade an ignorant Highlander that any instrument is so 
agreeable to his ear as the bagpipe, or an uncultivated 
Welshman or Irishman that the harp is not superior to the 
violin, nor would all the rhetoric in the world induce them 
to believe that a piece of Mozart's composition is compa- 
rable to one of their own wild airs. And this prevalence 
of custom and early impression is not peculiar to the rude 
and ignorant only, but is seen as remarkable in the most 
polished countries. All know with what rapture in old 
times the Parisian listened to the music of the French 
opera, which is disagreeable and grating to the ear of a 
polished foreigner. But the poetical composer is in every 
point under greater difficulties than the musical. 



a46 

The works of the latter are publicly shewn in all their 
beauty and force by the hands of skilful performers regu- 
larly trained, so that he has a chance of having some good 
judges among his auditors, as all persons inclined to obtain 
a critical knowledge of that science are furnished with 
examples as well as rules, on which to form their taste. 
But the tune of the poet is sung only in private, where 
every reader is to himself a performer. How skilful soever 
he is likely to be may be judged by considering that in an 
art infinitely more difficult than the musical, he has neither 
rule nor example to guide him. So that if the instrument 
be out of tune, or the ear vitiated, the performer will not 
be sensible of these defects in himself, but will impute 
the fault to the numbers of the poet. To such an indivi- 
dual those strains which are most harmonious, and in which 
the skill of the poet is most displayed, will appear most 
discordant. The more diversified the cadence, the more 
varied are the numbers ; the more disagreeable and ill- 
formed will the verses appear from a uniformity of pro- 
nunciation — an error, into which unskilful readers of ne- 
cessity fall. To such, the introduction of different feet into 
the same measure, and their judicious combinations appear 
to create disorder and confusion, and the want of rhyme 
is with them the want of measure, which used to be their 
unerring guide in making the close. Thus it is the Chinese 
judge of European pictures. Unaccustomed to consider 
the different excellence of their own, only in regard to the 
richness of the colouring, they see no beauty in ours, which 
they say have too many black spots in them, for so they 
term the shades. 

Hence it is evidenced, that our poets, if they expected 
to be read with pleasure, were compelled to adapt their 
strain to the capacity of their readers, and to use such num- 
bers only as could easily be perceived. And hence arose that 
uniformity of cadence and general use of rhyme in their 



347 

works. Thus, as their task became extremely easy, they 
were saved the trouble of studying the principles of their 
art, and set up at once for masters without serving an ap- 
prenticeship. They entered immediately on the practice 
without knowledge of the theory, and instead of unerring 
rules to direct them, they had only two uncertain guides, 
imitation and their own ears. Of all the poets that have 
written in our language, there seems to be but two who 
have dived into the principles of versification, and traced 
English numbers to their source. These were Dryden and 
Milton. This may be sufficiently exemplified by the dif- 
ferent conduct of these two contemporary writers, and the 
different uses they made of their powers, as well as the 
reception their works obtained from their countrymen. 
Dryden knew perhaps the theory of numbers as well as 
Milton, but was far from making the same use of his know- 
ledge, which he turned wholly to serve his own views. He 
wrote for sustenance, which depended on his present fame, 
and present fame was to arise from pleasing present taste. 
That once obtained, the bookseller, who considered not the 
intrinsic value, paid him in proportion to the bulk of the 
work, or the number of Hues it contained. Being always 
a needy,, he was of course a hasty writer, but his genius 
came to the rescue. Possessed as he was of such a happy 
turn for rhyme, he could have produced almost a hundred 
lines fi stans pede in uno," that would give delight on ac- 
count of that facility, in the same space of time that he 
could have written ten, whose beauty depended on the pro- 
priety and harmony of numbers, and the charms of which, 
after all his pains, could not be perceived by the multitude 
of unskilful readers. 

The tragedy of Gordobuc by Thomas Sackville, Lord 
Buckhurst, written and printed in 1565 surreptitiously, 
and reprinted 1571, was the first proof of this style of com- 
position, known as blank verse, but others ascribe it to Grim- 



348 

bald, who was educated at the same College as Milton was, 
viz. Christ's Coll. Camb. Many hasty thoughts would 
appear beautiful on account of the richness of the rhyme, 
which in blank verse would be considered puerile. Add 
to this, that indulgence to all faults and errors of this 
kind of writing, is more easily granted than in any other, 
from a supposed restriction under which the poet lies — 
which in fact to one possessed of a natural faculty in 
that respect, improved by habit, there is no style easier. 
When all this is considered it ceases to be a subject of 
wonder that Dryden should exert his powers to keep up a 
taste so well adapted to his purpose, and to make it exten- 
sive as possible. With this view he gave a remarkable 
instance of what has been before observed, how it is 
in the power of one single individual of reputation to 
introduce or confirm a bad taste in a whole nation, by 
making even tragedies in rhyme, which were not only 
heard without degout, but, as we are informed, imparted 
delight to the viciated ear of those days. Now it is long 
since we have evinced propriety enough to banish those 
monstrous productions from the stage, introduced by King 
Charles II. who had been inoculated in France with this 
bad taste. Upon the whole Dryden was the reigning poet 
of his time, and his works were universally perused and 
admired. Nor would the number of his votaries have been 
lessened at this day had not a successor of more application 
and greater leisure outstripped him in his own art. 

Milton acted on principles directly opposite. Like the 
great bard of antiquity he painted for eternity, only his 
conduct in this respect was infinitely more disinterested, as 
he resigned all chance of present fame. His light shone 
forth in vain, for the darkness comprehended it not. His 
almost divine poem of Paradise Lost was sold for £15, 
which sum was to be received at three different instalments, 
the last of which payments we have reason to believe was 



349 

never satisfied. Nor do we find that the bookseller was 
a great gainer by the transaction. Yet, notwithstanding 
the unsuitable returns made him he was not to be deterred, 
but still proceeded with a noble zeal for the honour of his 
country and its language, to leave behind him most finished 
models, the beauty of which, though lost upon the blind- 
ness of the age, might be perceived and appreciated by an 
enlightened posterity. Nor could any selfish motive induce 
him to swerve from that strict rule of right, by which he 
squared and quadrated all his poetic writings. To use the 
words of one of the most ingenious and judicious of the 
moderns, u the contempt in which, perhaps with justice, he 
held the age, prevented his condescending either to arouse 
or instruct it. He had before given his unworthy country- 
men the noblest poem that genius conducted by art could 
produce ; and he had seen them receive it with disregard, 
if not with contempt. It was said of it " A blind poet, one 
John Milton, had writ it." Conscious therefore of his own 
dignity and their demerit, he looked to posterity only for 
his reward, to posterity only directed by his future labours. 
Hence it was peradventure he formed his Samson Agonistes 
on a model more simple and severe than Aristotle himself 
would have demanded, and chose iEschylus for his master 
rather than Sophocles, or his familiar, much loved Euri- 
pides ; intending by this conduct to put as great a distance 
as possible between himself and his contemporary writers, 
and to make his works, as he himself said, " different from 
what among them passed for the best." The success of 
this poem was what was to be expected. The age in which 
it appeared treated it with total negligence, # nor until 
lately had that posterity to which he appealed, and which 
has done justice to most of his other writings, given to this 
excellent piece its full measure of popular and universal 
fame. It is now as fully recognised as Paradise Lost, 
although Iludibras was preferred at starting. 5 ' 



350 

Here may arise a dissent from the opinion of this judicious 
observer, when he seems to think that the posterity to which 
he appealed has already done justice to most of the other 
writings of Milton, though not to his Samson. We have 
indeed done him all the justice in our power, and given him 
his due degree of praise for such part of his excellence as we 
are capable of perceiving, but we scarcely think the present 
age so illuminated as to be able to see, or fully admire, 
some of his greatest beauties. True it is, his Paradise Lost 
has long since obtained its full measure of popular and uni- 
versal fame. But this perhaps may be attributed to ano- 
ther cause than a general improvement of taste. It is 
more than probable that it was chiefly, if not wholly, owing 
to the papers of criticism on that poem, published by the 
most popular and universally admired of our writers in 
prose, Addison. As these are preserved in books which 
have been more generally read than perhaps in any other in 
the English language, the fame of the poet goes hand in 
hand with that of the critic, and the perfections of the poem 
pointed out by him are as generally known as the essays 
in which they are displayed. An argument in support of 
this opinion may be drawn from the vast number and 
variety of editions of that poem which have appeared since 
the publication of those papers ; whereas before that time 
the work was little known or little sought. True criticism 
was then a new species of writing in English. It had not 
only the charms of novelty to recommend it, but likewise 
the highest abilities in the writer. All who admired the ana- 
lysis of the work of course applied themselves to read the 
original, partly led by curiosity, and partly from an actu- 
ating principle of man to judge for himself in all critical 
inquiries, and to examine whether the remarks were made 
with justice and propriety. This will account for the uni- 
versality of this poem as to its being read, and also for the 
general applause which has ever since attended it. Readers 



351 

of taste and knowledge extolled it from a perception of its 
merit, and the ignorant and tasteless relied on the autho- 
rity of the critic, and joined in the cry, lest they should 
discover their own want of judgment. This may also serve 
as a clue to guide us to the cause why the Agonistes ob- 
tained a so disproportionate degree of fame, and was known 
only to the few — for had the same critic taken the same 
pains to exhibit the beauties of that poem, which he did 
in respect to the epic, it is more than probable that it had 
been as generally known and lauded as the other, though 
not so universally admired. To corroborate this position it 
is worthy of observation that no other work of his has 
made its way to public knowledge without the aid of some 
helping hand. The Allegro and Penseroso were confined 
to the closets of the judicious, till the celebrated Handel 
by the charms of his music, forced them into celebrity — 
and his Comus lay buried in obscurity till the magic of 
music brought it before the public eye — and how little that 
public was capable of perceiving its beauties might be seen 
from the reception then attending it. For while the skill 
of the musician was applauded to the echo, the poem itself 
was little regarded, or occasioned weariness and satiety. 
It will be alleged by some that had it not been for the orna- 
ment of the songs the dramatic poet could not have long 
survived, and the whole piece had declined in estimation. 

A particular fatality seems to have adhered to Milton, 
different from the case of all other poets. Any one piece 
of allowed excellence and general reputation would be suf- 
ficient in any other writer to excite the highest curiosity 
to see whatever other curiosities he might offer the world, 
and to stamp a value upon them beyond their intrinsic 
merit, while in this case, though there never was anything 
more generally allowed than that he was the author of the 
noblest poem that lias appeared in our tongue, perhaps in 
any, yet this has not induced many to look through his 



352 

other works, though they are really, in their several kinds, 
of equal excellence with Paradise Lost — and this is an in- 
contestable proof that however general the praise has been, 
and however lavishly bestowed on this noble performance, 
the greater part of it arose in fashion and authority, and a 
quota of the amount of admiration it has excited has been 
only pretended. For if people were only as much pleased 
with that work as they would make us believe, what could 
stop them from pursuing the delight which they must of 
necessity receive from the perusal of other, his incompar- 
able pieces ? The fact is that though Milton has by the 
means mentioned obtained universal renown, yet it is far 
from being founded on a right and solid basis. Fashion 
and the authority of a few allowed judges may go a great 
way towards making a poem admired, and to obtain the 
incense of general praise, but this, as Macbeth says, is only 
" mouth honour — breath, which the poor slave should fain 
deny, but dare not/' The poetical, like the regal crown, 
can have no great security but in the hearts of the people, 
and the hearts of the people can be engaged to the Poet 
only by the pleasure and delight which his works ad- 
minister to them. Now, although Milton has been put 
into possession of his lawful sceptre, and all due homage 
attendant on that investiture has been paid him, yet his 
throne seems to be founded only on his right, and has not 
yet obtained the full affections of the people. The reason 
of this will at once be seen, when we reflect that however 
some other points in a poem may to the judicious appear 
more essential, yet it is by the charms of versification 
chiefly that the multitude are won. In poetry as in 
painting, the unskilful majority are more captivated by 
the colouring than the drawing. If, therefore, the works 
of Milton appear defective in this respect, if his verses in 
general, far from giving pleasure and delight, should strike 
the uncultivated or the viciated ears of the age as dis- 



353 

cordant and unmusical, the whole difficulty will at once be 
solved. His other merits and excellencies, displayed by 
judicious critics, may procure him a few real and shoals 
of pretended admirers, but cannot acquire him lovers. 
Men may be reasoned into esteem, but not into affection. 
This arises from an involuntary delight, immediately per- 
ceived from a contemplation of the exciting object. Ad- 
dison has with great accuracy and clearness laid open the 
art and judgment of Milton in the choice and conduct of 
his fable, in the masterly drawing of his characters with 
suitable manners, and in the sublimity of his sentiments 
and diction. These justly challenge our admiration and 
extort our praise, but the charms of his numbers are 
covered with a veil. The admirers of the ancients, when 
they are compelled to allow him his due merit, yet add, 
with an apparent concern, though with a secret satisfac- 
tion, that it is a pity so excellent a workman had so poor 
materials, and the composition of so great a genius had 
not the advantage of the ornaments which the languages 
of Greece and Rome have supplied ; while those of modern 
taste sigh for their rhyme, like Dr. Johnson, and lament 
the want of that uniformity of cadence to which their ears 
have been attuned. But not one reader perhaps in many 
thousands knows that a peculiar beauty of Milton is his 
versification, and that he has excelled all writers of all 
ages and countries in the uniform variety, harmony, and 
expression of his numbers. Shakspere's numbers are oc- 
casionally inimitable, for " rough, smooth, dense, or rare," 
but he is not so uniformly harmonious as Milton, who de- 
dicated his time to the delectation of music, and his verse 
to the realisation of melody. Nor will this appear an 
extraordinary assertion when we reflect that this is impos- 
sible to be known without perfect skill in reading — that 
we are of necessity corrupted in our principles of that art 
by ignorant masters and false rules — and that there is 

2 A 



354 

little attempt made to amend it. While, therefore, we 
remain in an ignorance of that art, we must as necessarily 
remain in ignorance of the true beauty and secret power 
of numbers, as we should do in regard to musical composi- 
tions where the instruments are defective, out of tune, or 
the players unskilful. The poems of Milton must ap- 
pear in the same light to us as our pictures to the Chinese 
— too many dark shades and opacity. Until that art is 
studied we shall be far from having it in our power wil- 
lingly to give that first of poets his wonted praise, that we 
shall be even blind to some of his unapproachable excel- 
lencies. Besides the charms of versification we shall lose 
some of the finest parts of his imagery, and in many places 
not even be able to comprehend the full drift of his ideas. 
Let us therefore apply ourselves con amove, and with dili- 
gence, to a study capable of affording such unalloyed de- 
light. Let us examine our language with care, and dive 
into its secret and recondite treasures. Let us be no 
longer content with a poor meagre vein of ore which we 
find near the surface, and which, after the French fashion, 
serves only to wiredraw or gild over a baser metal, but let 
us dig into the mine, where we shall discover a plenteous 
lode, equal in richness and superior in amplitude to that 
of the ancients. Should theirs be held for a purer speci- 
men, yet will ours be found to contain no more alloy than 
will render it fitter for all sorts of curious workmanship. 

Too long time have the beauties of the British muse, 
like those of the sex, been concealed, or spoiled, or cor- 
rupted by foreign mode and false integuments. The car- 
mine on the cheeks and lips, the fantastic dresses, the 
tightened stays, (the prodigious crinoline, successor of the 
hoops, under whose amplitude, Swift remarked in his 
day, that a moderate sized gallant might be concealed), 
only spoil the bloom of a complexion, the flowing ringlets 
of the hair, the easy shape and graceful mien. Should a 



355 

polished Athenian arise and behold her thus decked, he 
would be astonished to see in a country, illumined by their 
rules and examples, deformity made a science, and bar- 
barism reduced to rule and practice. Our northern muses, 
thus adorned, like a traviata, are made to inflame passions, 
and not to regulate them. What hope can we entertain 
of a robust and healthy offspring if we allow such incon- 
sistencies and irregularities ? Let our muse be redeemed 
from tyrannical sway, which fashion superinduces, and 
restore her to her native rights, simplicity and demeanour. 
We require little meretricious ornament, — let us leave to 
the sallow foreigner their ceruse and cosmetics, but let 
the British carnation and white appear in their genuine 
lustre, as laid on by nature's own pencil. Let other writers, 
remote from our shores, torture the body of their muse 
into a fantastic shape, or hide crookedness of limb, or cur- 
vature of spine under an armour of steel, cover puny 
members and a mincing gait under wide circumference of 
garments, but let the easy mien, the comely stature, the 
nicely chiselled symmetry, decently revealed, and the un- 
restrained majesty of motion in the British muse be dis- 
played to sight in their native charms. Then shall she 
stand confessed the genuine sister of the Grecian muse, 
and not the less beautiful for being supremely engaging 
as ' ' Beauty's youngest daughter." Then shall her votaries 
burn with a pure and holy flame, and the poetic offspring, 
from chaste union between sense and harmony, will be 
found lovely, vigorous, and destined to long-lasting, in- 
stead of chimeras, dire shapes flitting as clouds, and mere 
airy echoes produced from the wanton marriage of sound 
and fancy. 

It is remarked by Du Bos, an eminent French critic, 
that although the French language is incapable of any 
tolerable poetic measure without rhyme, that there is no 
rule in poetry the observance of which costs so much 

2 a 2 



356 

trouble and produces so few beauties in verse as that of 
rhyming. Rhyme frequently maims, and almost always 
enervates the sense of a discourse. For one brilliant 
thought which the passion of rhyming throws in our way 
by chance, it is certainly every day the cause of a hundred 
others which we should blush to use, were it not for the 
richness or novelty of rhyme with which these thoughts 
are attended. Some, perhaps, will say, there must be 
greater beauty in rhyme than it is pretended to shew. The 
consent of all nations, they may add, is a sensible proof in 
favour of rhyme, the use of which is universally adopted. 
It is to be replied, in the first place, that we contest not 
the agreeableness of rhyme, but look on this agreeableness 
only in an inferior and subordinate light to that which 
arises in the numbers and harmony of verse, and which 
shews itself continually during metrical pronunciation. 
Numbers and harmony are a light which can emit a con- 
stant lustre, but rhyme is a flash that disappears after 
giving a short-lived splendour. In fact the richest rhyme 
has but a transient effect. Were we even to note the 
value of verse only by the difficulties that are to be sur- 
mounted in making it, it is less difficult, without compari- 
son, to rhyme completely than to compose numerous and 
harmonious verse. In arriving at the latter we encounter 
obstacles at every word. Nothing extricates a French 
poet from these difficulties but his genius, his ear, and his 
perseverance, for he derives no aid from any method re- 
duced to art. 

These obstructions occur not unfrequently when the 
poet purposes to rhyme well only, but endeavouring to 
surmount them, he consults a lexicon of rhyme, the fa- 
vourite code of all versifiers. For let these writers say 
what they may, they all have that excellent work in their 
studies, as their poetical Yade mecum. 

Secondly, I grant that we rhyme all our verses and that 



357 

our neighbours do the same. We find the use of rhyme 
even in Asia and America, but these are barbarous, and 
the rhyming nations that have been civilized were barba- 
rous and illiterate when their poetry was first formed. The 
languages they spoke were not susceptible of greater per- 
fection of verse, when they laid the foundations of their 
poetry. True it is that the European nations became in 
process of time polite and learned. But as they polished 
themselves not till a long time after they were formed into 
a body politic, and as their national customs were settled 
and even strengthened by their long standing, when these 
nations received improvements arising in a judicious cul- 
ture of Greek and Latin, those customs had been polished 
and mended, but could never be totally altered. An ar- 
chitect who undertakes to repair an old gothic structure, 
may make alterations to render it more commodious, but 
he can not alter defects arising in the first construction. 
He can not shape it into a regular building without pulling 
down the old one, in order to erect a new edifice on a dif- 
ferent plan. 

Rhyme, like fiefs and duels, owe their origin to the 
barbarous state of our ancestors. The people from whom 
modern nations are descended, and who subverted the 
Roman Empire, had their poets, though barbarians, when 
they first settled in Gaul and other provinces of the em-* 
pire. As languages in which ignorant poets wrote were 
not sufficiently improved to endure treating according to 
the rules of art, nor even admitted the attempt, they 
fancied there would be some ornament in terminating with 
the same sound the two consecutive or relative parts of a 
discourse, that were to be of equal extent. This identity 
of final sounds repeated at the end of a number of syllables 
formed a kind of grace, and seemed to express something 
of cadence in verse. Thus was it in all verisimilitude that 
rhyme first arose, and was established in Europe. 



358 

Here we have a fair picture of rhyme offered to us with 
the history of its rise and progress, the legitimate offspring 
of barbarism and necessity, nursed by ignorance. 

Nature is the supreme model of imitation in every art 
and science. When we view her in all her operations, we 
find her invariably simple and uniform. She never ap- 
pears in fantastic ornament, never decorated with un- 
seemly embellishments ; her air and attitude are graceful, 
her mien sober, grave, and venerable ; her language, easy, 
familiar, unaffected ; her works distinguished by harmony 
and proportion, and she never exhibits those extravagant 
images which characterize some productions of art. Do 
we cast our eyes over these objects which constitute the 
theatre of nature, we find in every one an inimitable order 
and symmetry. The firmament displays admirable in- 
stances of grandeur and magnificence commensurate to its 
utility. The earth is decorated with a boundless variety 
of landscapes, and such a simplicity as gratifies the spec- 
tator, yet of myriads of repetitions never creates satiety. 
"We rise from a view of nature with satisfaction, and we 
return to it with delight and instruction. Hence we may 
infer that the noblest model of imitation in every art and 
science, is Nature. 

Would the historian follow this simple track, which he 
is by nature directed to pursue, his narrative would be 
pursued with more pleasure and advantage. But some 
have perplexed their narrative by embarrassing digressions 
and protracted periods, like Guicciardini, florid descrip- 
tions and a formal pedantic style — not confining them- 
selves to an easy, familiar representation of facts in due 
order, they confound the imagination of their readers by 
an idle exhibition of rhetorical ornaments. Would the 
poet follow this infallible guide, his works would not sink 
into oblivion with the trivial and insignificant productions 
of the day, but would remain as standards of taste and 



359 

elegance to succeeding ages. Homer, the simplest writer 
of antiquity, has been admired by every judicious critic and 
reader for near three thousand years. And why? Be- 
cause his descriptions and characters are natural. Pope 
says nature and Homer are the same ; and that nature 
spoke through the voice of Shakspere, where he is not 
bombastical, as the coarse spirit of the age constrained 
him occasionally to be — sometimes deserving the best recep- 
tion, and sometimes the worst. " Aliquando bonus dormitat 
Homerus," may also frequently be predicated of Shakspere. 
The moderns, save him of Avon, and Milton, have never 
approached this admirable Greek, because they have not 
described the great events they selected for their subjects 
with the same majestic simplicity. They have embellished 
their productions by extravagant descriptions, incredible 
prodigies, characters that never existed, in language com- 
posed of turgid expressions, an endless variety of inconsis- 
tent epithets and discordant metaphors. Such images 
have no uniform appearance, no natural features, but are 
monsters, "maculosa vellera," decorated with all the colours 
of Iris. Consider then, that the reader of taste is nau- 
seated with such profusion of fantastic portraits. Com- 
pare even the Jerusalem of Tasso (" Oh victor unsurpassed 
in modern song," as says Lord Byron), the lively poem of 
the Henriade, and the most elaborate compositions of the 
English poets who have attempted the epic poem, save 
Milton, with the works of Homer and Virgil, and while 
you arc dazzled with the false brilliant — le clinquant de 
Tasse — you will admire the grave simplicity of the bards of 
Greece and Rome. Did the dramatic writer follow nature, 
never would he introduce his speakers declaiming in a 
wild, inflated style— avec les mots ampoules. We should 
think it outre and prodigiously unnatural were one in deep 
affliction to express the anguish of his mind in measured 
periods, florid similes, and splendid metaphors, and we can 



360 

see no reason that these things should be allowed in scenes 
of tragic distress. The rhyme at the end of every act, 
which was usually introduced by the best poets of the last 
age, has been justly exploded. On a similar account, tra- 
gedy in rhyme has been reprobated as affected and gro- 
tesque. Should the speaker on the stage consider with 
attention the character he represents and the passions he 
attempts to express, he would not " outstep the modesty of 
nature." He would not vociferate in scenes where the 
pathos is delineated ; he would not rant in the depths of 
sorrow, not declaim in a soliloquy, where the hero in a 
tragedy is supposed to be in a contemplative attitude. 
Nothing can shock a judicious audience more than to hear 
an actor that represents the grave Cato, speaking his cele- 
brated soliloquy with Plato on the immortality of the soul 
before him, in a loud, fantastic tone, pointing at the hea- 
vens, when he says, " The stars shall fade away, the sun 
himself grow dim with age, and nature sink in years " 

Shakspere, introducing Henry VI. thus addressing 
Cardinal Beaufort in his expiring moments, " Lord Cardi- 
nal, if thou thinkest on Heaven's bliss — Hold up thy hand, 
make signal of that hope \" Did an actor repeat this pa- 
thetic address with the least degree of negligence or 
rapidity, we should be shocked at his absurdity. Nature 
teaches that he ought to address the dying man in a calm, 
sympathetic tone, and that he ought to wait some time 
before he starts back with concern and affliction, and pro- 
nounces these words — " He dies— -and makes no sign." 

Action is the language of the body and should cor- 
respond to the idea passing in the mind of the speaker in 
the forum or the histrionic performer on the stage. Cicero 
in his rhapsody about the effect of oratory thought no art 
comparable to it, an art of equal power with music itself, 
which could "take the prisoned soul and lap it in Elysium." 

It should be predicated of orators and of poets what 



361 

Swift applies to fortunate married women, they should have 
a quick conception and an easy delivery. 

Would the senator condescend to follow the dictates of 
nature, we should not see so many orators assume a for- 
mal aspect, as " I am Sir Orator, when I do speak, let no 
dog hark," then attempt a vociferous tone, saw and swing 
their arms, like a peasant brandishing a flail. Should the 
preacher in his sermons observe the rules of propriety and 
decorum prescribed by nature, he would not appear so 
affected, nor address his audience like a fanatical declaimer 
with a rueful visage, a bellowing voice, a canting tone, or 
puritanical formality. The air of levity and the aspect of 
gloom are equally absurd and mistimed. The Christian 
orator ought to be meek and inviting, shewing humility 
and simplicity, the first of Christian virtues, in his manner 
and address, eschewing violence and commination as ini- 
mical to spiritual allurement, and rather by winning words 
to conquer willing hearts, and make persuasion do the 
work of fear. 

Originally about nine-tenths of our words were consi- 
dered to be Saxon, but now they are not more than one- 
fifth ; the Saxon is almost as inflected as the learned tongues, 
and it has imparted this property to its daughter the Ger- 
man. But the English has escaped this misfortune, and 
we scarcely inflect at all. The Gothic set the example and 
that probably is derived from the Sanscrit, (see page 295) 
and we have mangled our words, or lengthened them, as 
wc thought necessity required — according to the manner 
that the owl fattened the mice, after she bit off their legs 
to prevent their running away; and if ours be the same 
reason for the maiming of words it will certainly answer the 
end, for sure we may be no other nation will borrow them. 

An instance or two will elucidate the subject, and shew 
the effects of such practices. The third person of the first 
form of the verb " to move" was formerly written xuoxcth, 



362 

and so of all the rest, but seeing these could not be used 
as rhymes in heroic verse, they were reduced to one sylla- 
ble and the terminable altered to moves, proves, &c, and 
this rule became general. In the increase of the verbs to 
drudge, grudge, judge, &c. it was formerly written drud- 
ged, grud-ged, jud-ged — as two syllables, but for the same 
reason they were reduced to one, drudg'd, grudg'd. In 
the former of these instances are seen the mutations to 
which I advert. "Writers have not been content to admit 
into the number of good rhymes all words the final sylla- 
bles of which strike the ear with a similarity of sound, but 
all those that appear to the eye constructed in the same 
manner, though their sounds are very different when re- 
peated. For instance, the words, doves, proves, and groves, 
appear similar to the eye, the vowels and last consonants 
being the same, they look as if their sounds should be ex- 
actly alike, and would certainly so be read by one unac- 
quainted with the peculiarities of our tongue. And yet 
these three words, that are admitted to be good rhymes, 
have very different sounds to the ear, though custom has 
rendered this familiar to us, still the absurdity of the prac- 
tice will be immediately visible by writing the words as 
they are pronounced — lwves, prooves, groves, by which we 
see that it is only in the last word the letter o has its own 
sound. In the first it has the sound of u, and in the 
second of double 00, and consequently these words can no 
more rhyme to one another than those composed of dif- 
ferent vowels. Nor can a more unsound rule be conceived 
than that which makes the eye the arbiter of sound. But, 
poets were right, in order to lessen their own labour, to 
obtain as great a latitude as possible for their favourite 
rhyme, and as they were in undoubted possession of all 
words of similar sounds in speech, they might with equal 
propriety lay claim to all words spelled on paper as if they 
were sounded alike, although they appeared very different 



363 

when tittered. As this practice is universal even among 
our best rhymers, we have no occasion to say how much it 
must perplex and mislead those who would assist them- 
selves in acquiring a knowledge of our tongue by reading 
the poets, not to mention the many deviations from the 
right sound that may be shewn in the best of them, on 
account of the temptation of our consonants to one vowel. 
And this custom, according to Dr. Swift, of joining the 
most obdurate consonants, without one intervening vowel, 
has formed harsh and jarring sounds that none but an un- 
critical ear could endure. In the former, by changing the 
old termination eth — as proveth into proves, the use of that 
sibilation has been greatly multiplied. This is more im- 
mediately obvious in all verbs that originally contain one 
or more 5 — as, resigns for resigneth, wishes for wisheth, 
possesses for possesseth. Nor are these the only ill effects 
of rhyme ; pronunciation has also been rendered uncertain 
by it, for though at first view it might rather seem a guide 
to that, as it certainly would be were it invariably used 
with scrupulous attention, yet by the latitude which poets 
have allowed themselves in order to render the taste of 
rhyme more easy, it serves rather to perplex than to assist 
in their inquiries. 

"Rhyme originated with the monks, who had already de- 
formed the Latin tongue with the tinkling of words, and 
transferred it from their Latin poems into the modern 
languages, and, considering it a beauty, substituted it in- 
stead of inversion and metrical feet. The English tongue, 
however, is most rich in rhyme, though we have suffered 
many rhyming words to become obsolete; yet Lord 
Byron has, in Childe Harold, restored the currency of se- 
veral sterling old English terms and consonance of verses. 
The Spenserian stanza glows with rhyming beauty ; but 
it was reserved for the sweet-mouthed Pope, who " lisped 
in numbers, for the numbers came," like his poetical pre- 



364 

cursor Ovid, who remarks " Et quod tentabam scribere 
versus erat," to carry rhyme to the highest state of which 
it is susceptible, shewing how harmony in language is the 
result of a happy combination of measure and melody. 

On the Computation of Time. 

The error relative to the end of centuries, like that of 
1800, originated in the want of information in those unac- 
quainted with the mode of calculation used by the Romans 
of old. For instance, the Romans, in their computation 
of time used the ordinal where we use the cardinal number 
— tertio quoque anno is expressed in English, every 
three years, and in French, tous les trois ans. Hence it is 
evident that the moment we date 1800 or 1900, the cen- 
tury will have expired. When we date a number it is gone, 
as twelve at night is twelve hours struck and passed away. 
So of 1800 years. 

To ascertain the expiration of any century of the Chris- 
tian era, it will be requisite to determine the precise time 
in which Christ was crucified, and so retrace the year to 
his nativity. When the Consulates, by which were gene- 
rally dated the years in the Roman empire, began to be 
confused, and were soon after extinct, Dionysius Exiguus, 
a Scythian by extraction, and a learned Abbot of Rome in 
the last year of the Emperor Justin, a.d. 527, published 
his cycle, in which he computed his years from the 1st of 
January following, representing the birth of Christ to 
have been on the 25th December. George Syncellus 
mentions one Panodorus, an Egyptian monk, in the reign 
of Arcadius, in the fifth age, who, in a Chronicle, had made 
use of this epocha, in which he was imitated by several 
Orientals. But Dionysius first introduced this epoch into 
the west, and before the termination of the eighth century 
its adoption was so general, that it had been denominated 



365 

the common Christian era, although Venerable Bede, the 
great luminary of this island in the eighth century, a.d. 
731, both in his history and in his learned work " De tem- 
porum ratione," and some others, date their era one year 
before Dionysius, and from the incarnation of our Saviour 
or the annunciation of the Virgin Mary, styled 25th 
March. 

This computation was continued in this country until 
the change of the style, which took place in 1752. Sel- 
den, in his work styled " God made man," writes to prove 
that the nativity of our Saviour took place on the 25th 
December. 

Some chronologers, thinking they had discovered this 
era to be erroneous, and that the birth of Christ certainly 
preceded it, have gone into extremes, and by their opinions 
and perplexed dissertations have rendered the precise time 
of the first period of our holy religion more obscure and 
unsettled. 

To avoid ambiguity and to throw a ray of light on this 
part of Sacred history, it will be necessary to premise 
observations, which may tend to serve as a clue to conduct 
us through this labyrinth. 

The neglect of the deference due to the Evangelists, and 
of the Fathers who lived near those times, has been a 
source of errors, which their testimony removes, and which 
presents a system consistent with itself and the history of 
the Gospel. 

By this rule it may be proved that Christ was crucified 
after he had completed his thirty-third year — that he was 
near thirty years of age when he was baptized, and that 
he had attained his twelfth year when he was taken up to 
Jerusalem to celebrate the Jewish passover. 

Hence chronologers dated a.d. 12, Christ disputes with 
the Doctors — 29, he was baptized by John ; 33, on the 
third of April on a Friday when he was crucified. From 



366 

which it is evident that the Chronologers have dated time 
as completed — for Christ was in his thirteenth year when 
he was found 

(t Among the gravest Rabbies disputant. 

On points and questions fitting Moses' chair." — Milton. 

He was in his thirtieth year when he was baptized, and 
when he was crucified he was thirty-three years complete. 

From profane history Christ was born when Lentulus 
and Messala were Consuls, which year corresponds to that 
of the Julian year 43 ; to that of the reign of Augustus, 
42. For Julius Csesar was assassinated on the 15th of 
March in the year two, after he had introduced the Calen- 
dar called Julian, according to which every 4th year was 
to be a bissextile or leap year — now this year answers to 
the year of the Julian period 4711. Christ was therefore 
born in this year ; the year preceding leap or bissextile 
year, and of the reign of Augustus 42. Now it appears 
from Petavius that Dionysius fixed his cycle in the year of 
the Julian period 4712, but that he dated his year one on 
the 1st January 4713, which was a year complete from the 
circumcision of our Saviour ; whence it is inferred if 
Christ was born the year preceding leap year, and as this 
year is bissextile according to the Julian Calendar, that 
1800 years must have elapsed since the birth, on the 25th 
December, 1799. 

Dionysius dated one year, when one year was completed 
from the circumcision ; hence the moment we date every 
succeeding year the time must be completed. 

Therefore at the end of the last century, the moment 
we dated 1800 the eighteenth century was elapsed — we 
are now in the 19th century and not the 18th, although 
we write it eighteen. The same may be predicated of a 
lease for 99 years, which virtually is one hundred years, or 
a century complete. 



367 

It is marvellous that the knowledge and progress of that 
with which man has most to do, Time, which begins in 
eternity and euds in eternity, has been so imperfectly re- 
corded in all ages. 

Time was measured by the tides — the names are iden- 
tical — as Whitsun-tide, noon-tide, etc. — being the Saxon 
word for time. In the North tide or tite is employed for 
anon, quick — tider is sooner. 

Great discrepance exists in all computation of time, 
whether Pagan, Jewish or Christian eras be implied, as is 
seen in the date assigned to the flood. In accordance 
with the Vulgate this cataclysm is fixed by Abp. Usher at 
the year of the world 1656, and the date of the Saviour's 
birth is variously settled at 4004 and 4138. The com- 
puted difference between the Hebrew date of the deluge 
and that of the Vulgate is 586 years, but some calculations 
advance it to 1466 years. The curiosity of man and his 
tendency to predictions have suggested hypotheses which 
have greatly confused all chronology, but a better light 
begins to prevail, and some credible theory as to chrono- 
logy may eventually be propounded and accepted. Induc- 
tion is obtained from facts, and causes from effects. Deduc- 
tion is the opposite, deriving facts from laws, and effects 
from causes. It was the same with physical sciences, until 
Lord Bacon refused all but inductive proofs and inference, 
and Sir Isaac Newton to that end said, " Hypotheses non 
fingo," and held to the law. The ages of the world have 
been divided into six, extending from the creation to the 
deluge in 1656, and so the sixth age reached from the 
Babylonish captivity to the nativity of Christ in 4000. 
The world was to last according to a Jewish prophecy some 
6000 years, "iEtate in scxtfi, mutabit machina mundi." 
The ancient tradition of the house of Elias, 2000 years 
without order j 2000 the Covenant; 2000 the Messiah ; 
that as the instituted week consisted of six days and a 



368 

sabbath, so the duration of the imperfect state of the world 
or earth would be 6000 years, and then would come the 
perfect state of it, or its true sabbath. 

Experience and Astronomy was the thread of Newton 
for his Chronology, and his system is precise and natural. 
It was not before a Council or Synod held a.d. 743, that 
Christians began to date from their Fouuder. Dionysius 
had imagined this epoch in his Solar cycle of 526 years, 
but it came not into use until it was employed by Bede, 
circa 743. So late as the time of St. Augustine, the 
father, there was no evidence to fix the year of the nativity 
or that of the ascension. The space between the baptism 
and the ascension of our Lord was a little more than two 
years. On this uncertainty reigns; and Origen, who 
flourished from a.d. 210 to 253, thought the ministerial 
period of our Saviour was only one year and four months, 
and then changed his belief, and adhered to the opinion of 
three years, while Eusebius computed it at some three and 
half years. 

The age of our Saviour is very doubtful, for the Fathers 
founded on St. Luke, who said he " was about 30 years of 
age/' the 15th of the reign of Tiberius. Hence the birth 
was 15 years before Augustus' death, which would be some 
42 or 43 of his reign. St. Matthew asserts the Messiah 
was born before the death of Herod, which is fixed 4 b.c 

The day of the nativity was not actually selected for 300 
years to serve for any fixed commemoration of the events 
and then Julius, the Pontiff, appointed the 25th Dec. for 
the purpose, between the years of grace 337 and 352. 
Many believe the Paschal Lamb was slain 15 th April, at 
3 p. m., but some prefer the 18th March; — so much varia- 
tion is concomitant with chronology, a subject beset with 
difficulties. 

A work by the Rev. Samuel Jarvis, D.D., of the United 
States, America, has lately been published on these 



369 

moot points, and his inferences are that Christ entered 
Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, 21 March — was betrayed 
Wednesday, 24 March — celebrated the Passion and insti- 
tuted the Sacrament, Thursday, 25 March, and was cruci- 
fied Friday, 26 March — and arose Easter Sunday, 28 
March, the year 4741 of the Julian period — in the 9th 
month of the 4th year of the modern Christian era — in 
the 19th year of the associated reign of Tiberius and the 
15th of his sole reign, when Lucius Rubellius Geminus 
and Caius Rufus Geminus were Consuls. 

Christ was born 25 Dec. 4707., in the 193rd Olympiad, 
5th day of the 9th month 7471; 39 Julian Calendar, 
in the Consulate of D. Laelius Balbus and C. Antistius 
Vetus. In the year, says Orosius, that the temple of Janus 
was shut for the third time. 

It would seem singular that the dates of the greatest 
events have been so imperfectly recorded, and that the 
sacred penmen had no more care as to accuracy in this 
particular than they had to give a description of the person 
of the Saviour, of whom the Prophet says, " There is no 
beauty that we should desire him," — and who spake as 
never man spoke. 

There never was any attempted description of the per- 
son of Christ, or any portrait of him — although some 
miracle-mongers in that era of impudent forgeries, styled 
dark ages, which lasted 1000 years, and well they deserve 
that title, (which some modern retroactive worthies would 
wish to revive on the principle of reader pour mieux 
sauter) — uttered a portrait or coin or gem with the effigy 
of that divine person, and which the effrontery of some 
enthusiasts would urge on the enlightenment of these days 
to accept as genuine, said to be done in the days of Clau- 
dius Caesar. This imposture is redolent of certain unproved 
doctrines since propagated as true, and partially held so to 
be, for death or persecution followed a reasonable doubt, 
and so the commandments of men took a place in theology, 

2 B 



3 ?0 

and assumed the authority of the commandments of God. 
And this arose from ignorance, want of education, and 
especially want of toleration, the absence of which latter 
ingredient in human happiness and natural right is the 
main cause of wars, superstition and heresy : for were 
toleration accorded universally, away would go much of 
the tyranny of priests, who chiefly carry silly persons cap- 
tive, and then boast of conversions. Persecuting all, some 
unconscionable sects demand all toleration and grant none, 
and then exclaim they are persecuted. Tyranny and 
superstition are the worst foes which afflict humanity, and 
have given rise to idolatry and hero-worship, to which there 
is a tendency even in the favoured land of England, and 
what is worse, it is encouraged in high places, as a means of 
government, but fortunately the conspiracy against man- 
kind is neutralized, if not quite baffled by that common sense 
which the Giver of all good has granted to us ex abundantid, 
however abused. Toleration everywhere, and the Bible every 
where should be the cry and the imperious demand of all 
zealous of truth. England has proved the validity of these 
practices since the Reformation, when the beams of spiritual 
light shone on a nation which appears to be among Christians 
what the Jews were among Pagan nations — a favoured and 
a cherished people — esto perpetua. 

But to resume the thread of this brief chronicle of time. 
The Pontifices maximi of Rome, whose business it was to 
note the efflux of time, had neglected their duty so com- 
pletely, that the seasons fell into disorder. Julius Caesar, 
the omnis homo of his age, or as our bard of Avon says, 
" the greatest man that ever lived in the tide of time," 
consulted Sosigenes, the Alexandrian astronomer, and set 
time right again. The year of Confusion was 80 days more 
than our current year, or 445 days instead of 365, &c. ; and 
the vernal equinox, which should have fallen on the 21st of 
March, fell on the preceding December. The cause of 



371 

" the times being out of joint," was the precession of the 
equinoxes, which fact was then unknown ; — since which 
time the periods of the changes of the position of the 
earth's axis, which occasion this precession, have been 
duly investigated, and the calculations agree with astrono- 
mic observations. The action of the moon's different 
attraction on the nearer and more distant parts of the 
earth concur to produce this phenomenon. In modern 
times various systems have been suggested to rectify time ; 
among which stands pre-eminent that of Joseph Scaliger, 
a man of infinite literature, and on whom his cotempora- 
ries lavished extravagant encomiums, and who was styled 
the Father of Chronology. His scheme was entitled the 
Julian period of 7980 years, being the product of the solar 
cycle, which is 28 years, multiplied by the lunar cycle, 
which is 19 years, and the Roman indiction or 15 years: 
as, 28 x 19 = 532 x 15 = 7980. 

The Indiction was instituted by the Romans, or rather 
by Constantine the Great, and it is a cycle of tributes for 
15 years, and by it accounts were kept after a.d. 312, when 
the Olympiad system, which was four Julian years, and 
which began B.C. 776, was finally superseded. 

The Epact means excess of a common solar year above 
the lunar year, and is derived from lirayu), to impel — the 
former is 365 days, and the lunar 354, hence the lunations 
get 1 1 days before the solar year — the cycle of the epacts 
or lunar cycle consists of 1 9 years. 

The sun, which in the time of Hipparchus, B.C. 125, was 
in the 4th degree of Aries, is now in Pisces, having retro- 
graded 30 degrees, and it requires some 2000 years and 
more to run through a zodiacal sign. He thought the 
equinox receded about a degree in 99 years ; but it recedes 
50 seconds yearly, and one degree in 7 '2 years, says New- 
ton. That year was called the great year by Astronomers 
and Mathematicians, when the sun, moon, and stars re- 
turned to the same place whence they set out, which con- 

2 b 2 



3 ?2 

summation requires 25,800 years, the poles of the heavens 
having then revolved round the poles of the ecliptic. 

The sun in its apparent motion makes a complete tour 
of the Zodiac in a period usually estimated at 25,868 years 
according to some, which is shortened to 21,000 by others, 
the precessional cycle. 

The cause is not a change in the sun's position but only 
in that of the observer, from an altered inclination of the 
earth's axis. This is called the evagation of the earth's 
axis. The Pole itself varies its position slowly but de- 
cidedly from time to time. 

Herschell says that the entrance front of the Great 
Pyramid, must in the year B.C. 2123 have looked towards 
a Draconis instead of our present Polar star and Ursa Minor. 

The monthly swayings of the earth's axis to and fro 
(very slight) are called nutation, and the annual balance 
of their aggregate result is called the precession of the equi- 
nox. The equinoxes arrive earlier every year, so that the 
seasons are earlier, and thus produce change of climate, 
and indeed all nature seems to alter, as there is a shifting 
of the beds of ocean, from the law which allows fluids 
more readily than solids to follow the slightest impulse of 
gravity, and from the congealing and liquefying of unequal 
quantities of water in the Arctic and Antartic seas. 

La Place has computed that since the time of Hippar- 
chus, the year has become some few seconds shorter. In 
the year 1582, Pope Gregory XIII. caused the style to be 
altered where he had sway. Some 10 days were thrown out ; 
but this was not adopted in England because the Pope had 
ordered it, an indication of jealousy and littleness; which 
change a philosophic nation should have embraced, had it 
originated with Mahomet, or the Dalai Lama, and to which 
error, the tardy Russians, regardless of astronomical truth 
and temporal propriety, still adhere. In England truth 
prevailed at length, and in 1752 we followed a multitude 
to do good, and threw out 12 days to bring us then equal 



373 

to the requirements of time, at which circumstance the 
superstition of the people was awakened, and they were 
wont to rebuke the ministry, and cry out, " Give us back 
our 12 days, you have shortened our lives." 

The wits say it takes four springs to make a leap year. 

There are 44 minutes gained in every leap year, and 
there are 25 leap years in a century ; so that we must 
restore 1100 minutes or about a day every 400th year; 
that is by dropping the leap year which falls on the hun- 
dredth year for three consecutive hundred years ; and still 
we are not correct, having taken too much, or advanced by 
340 minutes. So we add one day more in 400 years, which, 
leaves us still 80 minutes in excess, or the loss of about 
one day in 5000 years. 

The Gregorian Calendar is founded on the simple data, 
that as every 4th year, according to the Julian system, one 
day was added, which is an excess of 44 minutes ; so to 
bring time to an equality, every 400th year was to be 
reckoned a leap year, leaving the other 300 years common 
years. 

Bissextile is so termed because the 6 th day before the 
Calends of March was repeated ; that is, the 24th of Feb. 
was not styled 25, but 24 was repeated. The defalcation 
of 1100 minutes in a century, is caused by an inaccurate 
annual calculation, for the hour is not 60 minutes, nor is 
the minute 60 seconds. 

In the first edition of the Tractate, under the article of 
Letters representing numerals, the number 666 expressed 
by letters was referred to ; and the passage from St. John's 
Revelation, chap. xiii. ver. 18, was cited — Let him that hath 
understanding count the number of the Beast, for it is the 
number of a MAN, and his number is 666. 

As this fact and prediction are within the scope of time 
prospective, although this is not a controversial work, the 
author has again introduced the matter, with a view of 



374 

giving the detail rather than entering into dissertation. 
The statements are highly cnrious and interesting. Some 
thinking what relates to time in the mystic number 1260 
years is to be solved by the sum of 666. I shall recapitu- 
late here the summary of this question, connected with 
Time. 

Now these letters used as numerals in value make up 
the names of several words which have been interpreted to 
mean the Roman Catholic Church or its representative. 
Among the many words found in the mystic number is 
that of Maometis, as well as Lateinos, Apostates, Romiith ; 
and it is very singular that the number 666 should coincide 
with these names or words, although in one instance only 
the exact requisition is answered in its being the name of 
a man — Maometis. It also makes the words Yicarius filii 
Dei, which words were seen by Robert Elemyng on an 
inner door of the Vatican, and to the comfort of Romanists 
by the slight addition of a letter the hateful name of 
Martin Lauter is formed. The number is a sort of secrecy, 
as it is the same in all the places of units, tens and hundreds. 

One of the Fathers of the Church, Irenseus, who died 
A.D. 202, and was the disciple of Polycarp, who was the 
disciple of St. John, first pointed out the words Lateinos 
and Romiith, which means Romana sedes. There are many 
mysterious numbers in the Bible. The grand apocalyptic 
number is 1260, 42 months, and time, times and a half — 
which are synchronical and must be interpreted propheti- 
cally. Years are understood by days, and Scripture puts 
less for greater numbers and definite for indefinite times. 
Our Saviour calls days years, as the third day I shall be 
perfected. Now the prophecy of Daniel, 70 weeks or 490 
days, dates from the edict of Artaxerxes in his 20th year 
to the time of the passion, which was exactly 490 pro- 
phetical years, not Julian years. 

Again the number 12 is a mysterious one — 12 apostles, 



375 

12 tribes, twice 12 or 24 elders. 12 x 12 = 144 the square 
root of 12 ; and if we add the word thousands it is the 
mystical number of Christ's kingdom. 

Again the number 7 is mystical, and from it, as from 
666, fanciful conclusions have been educed. 7 stars, 
7 churches, 7 persecutions, 7 candlesticks, sabbatical year 
7 x 7 = 49. 

Babylon the great or the apocalyptic Beast with seven 
heads and ten horns is the Eoman empire, which is said to 
have been governed by a woman, the Lady of Babylon or 
ecclesiastical government or apostate church. Charlemagne 
first granted temporal power to the Popes by the gift of 
the Duchy of Benevento. His grandson Prince Hugo 
married Elizabeth of Gonzaga, Princess of Lombardy. 
The so-called patrimony of St; Peter, extending from Fer- 
rara to Naples, from Aucona to Civita Yecchia, was the 
donation of the Countess Matilda de Gonzaga, Princess of 
Mantua, Duchess of Tuscany, Spoleto, &c. She also gave 
the second crown to the Popes, and she lived at the palace 
of Canossa, in the Neapolitan territory. This donation 
dated 1102 is said to be preserved in the Vatican. 

The donation of Constantine to St. Sylvester is the only 
apparent plea that can be adduced for the possession of Rome 
itself and the misnamed Patrimony of St. Peter. All the rest 
of the church property was acquired by conquest or usurpa- 
tion. The Romagna was wrested from its owner by Pope 
Alexander IV., to form into a principality for his natural 
son Caesar Borgia. Even Avignon and the Venaissin were 
extorted by the Popes from Queen Joanna of Naples in the 
14th century, while a minor, for 80,000 crowns, which were 
never paid. 

But the apocryphal donation of Constantine and the 
false decretals of Isidore have both been pronounced, even by 
Bossuet, as " damnable impositions," and it is not unlikely 
that the Church of Rome may have to disgorge its usurpa- 



376 

tions in retributive justice as the monasteries and conven- 
tual houses in England did surrender theirs under our 
Henry VIII., which quenched the power of the Pope. 

The Papists assert that what the Pope holds is derived 
from St. Peter himself, but Irenseus who favoured us with 
the interpretation of the words before cited never assigns 
this chair to St. Peter. Hence it seems a very gratuitous 
assumption to say that St. Peter ever was in the city of 
Rome, and it was only conceived when they required this 
name to advance their authority or fortify pretensions, all 
which was subsequent to the removal of the seat of govern- 
ment from Rome to Byzantium, which transference of 
power enabled the then mere Bishop of Rome to glide 
into the vacant throne, and also to arrogate to himself the 
attributes of a sovereign and to exercise regalian rights, 
despite the solemn declaration of the Saviour himself, 
" My kingdom is not of this world. 55 

If we take Scripture for our guide it never was intended 
there should be one specific head, all things were originally 
in common, Christ alone being the Spiritual Head, no visi- 
ble head being required. The Church can never fail — but 
by that word is by no means implied the Roman Catholic 
sect of Christians, or any other sect. Temporalities and 
spiritualities are distinct properties, and we trust that 
what Protestants have endeavoured to do for real Chris- 
tianity may be effected by the Italians themselves, and 
that Popery may be melted away in Protestantism or 
proved religion, without endeavouring again to return to 
the devices of the middle ages, and the captivating hope of 
keeping the Laity in servitude by means of ignorance, and 
its inseparable attendant, Superstition. 

It is no novelty to doubt the allegation of St. Peter 
ever being at Rome. In the 14th century it was denied, 
nor is there any proof at all that he was martyrised there. 
Clemens Bp. of Rome cites Peter and Paul as righteous 



377 

pillars of the Church who suffered for the faith. But there 
is not one word of the locality, which had been easy to 
state and had been universally known had it been the capital 
of the world. In the apostolic times the succession of 
bishops was of no importance, neither have the primitive 
Christians told us exactly who was the first bishop : and 
we hear of no bishop until long after the death of St. Paul, 
who was "not a whit behind the very chief est apostles." 
(2 Cor. xi. 5.) while the fact of his rebuking St. Peter, 
" whom he withstood to the face, because he was to be 
blamed" implies equality in rank and office without dispute. 

The apostolic constitutions make Linus first Bishop of 
Rome, and all the apostolic sees were equal, and at the 
time too when the whole management of Christian affairs 
were on St. PauPs shoulders there is not a word men- 
tioned about St. Peter, which leads us to infer that there 
was then no recognised primacy. 

Irenseus, who died 202 A.D. makes Linus the first 
Pope, and he also names St. Paul before St. Peter, which 
embarrasses Romanists, and exhibits the nudity of their 
imaginary pretensions. 

Origen in 250 A.D. says, he (Peter) came lv riXei at the 
close of his life to Rome, but he adduces no proof. 

Eusebius, the father of ecclesiastical history, and who 
wrote A.D. 300, being cotemporary with Constantine the 
Great, admits that it was a tradition only that St. Peter 
was first Bishop of Rome. He quotes one Caius who lived 
A.D. 219, and Dionysius, bishop of Corinth, from a letter 
written some A.D. 177 to Soter bishop of Rome. He says 
one Papias, a cotemporary of the Apostles, states he was 
informed by John the Presbyter that Mark the secretary of 
St. Peter wrote all he heard about the latter, and that he 
came to Rome between A.D. 41 and 51, and upset Simon 
the Magician. Surely this is merely hearsay or confused 
tradition, and not to be accepted like truth, so easy to be 



proved if a fact. St. Ignatius merely alludes to Peter and 
Paul as teachers, but never hints they were both at Rome 
bodily, St. John's writings close the Apostolic age, in 
which there is not a single word expressed that St. Peter was 
present in Rome. All the inference is from tradition, yet 
this was enough, and the axiom facile credimus quod 
volumus came into play, and credulity was satisfied. 

Now tradition is a word much abused and is received in 
various senses, but it was never intended so to be stretched 
as to match and master the Bible, or Christians may be 
deceived with an appearance only — "decipimur specie recti/ 9 
Tradition may augment or diminish in the course of ages, 
hence a reasonable doubt may be raised as to its particular 
significance, but the Bible is 

Broad and general as the casing air, 
"Whole as the marble, founded as the Rock. 

It is immutable and knows no variableness or shadow of 
turning. Rumours slid into tradition and it became his- 
tory, for that reason the Book was published to evince the 
fact that Christianity is a historical religion with super- 
natural attestations. Away then with blind tradition, 
whether it be to confirm a dogma or consolidate a Pope. 
All indispensable tradition must be involved in the Book. 

Had any unexceptionable evidence been extant that St. 
Peter was ever at Rome it had been proudly paraded before 
the Christian world for centuries. But no such testimony 
can be found "nihil simile out secundum" save in the feigned 
acts or revelations of St. Paul, which Gelasius, bishop of 
Cesarea, who lived in the 4th century, ingenuously con- 
demned for apocryphal. These vain traditions seem neces- 
sary to bolster up the infirmities of a Church, and so a crowd 
of forgeries was edited, and with them the pseudo-Ignatian 
epistles were concocted, a conspiracy to transfer the Church 
and God's inheritance to one man. Hence an exclusive 



379 

Bishop was elected (Papa or pater patrum) and a corporate 
body soon followed. 

Be it noted that there is not a word in the sacred Roll 
to warrant these conclusions ; or in the Acts of the Apostles, 
where undoubtedly it had been mentioned, had St. Peter 
bodily been in Rome, or ever enjoyed the primacy of the 
apostles. 

Not a hint in St. Paul's various epistles, citing by name 
all who were of note then in Rome ; nor does St. Peter 
himself come to the rescue, unless the term Babylon, im- 
plies Rome, which assuredly would convey a bitter sar- 
casm to call the capital of the world Babylon, as much as 
if a Bishop of London, writing a pastoral letter, were to 
style our capital Babylon, from which place the elect 
offered gratulations. We see, then, how dubious is this 
designation ; and that St. Peter ever inhabited Rome, or 
was its bishop, is as remote from proof, as that the ecclesi- 
astical lands in the tenure of the Popes were the gift of 
Constantine the Great, or Charlemagne, which is still be- 
lieved by those who quiet their minds " with the delusive 
opiate of hasty persuasion." 

It is in accordance with verisimilitude that the Babylon 
of St. Peter was the town adjacent to Alexandria in Egypt, 
and not Rome, and that this holy apostle lived near his son 
Mark, who was himself Bishop of Alexandria, and sent 
greetings in the letter, which seems a reasonable solution 
of the word and locality of Babylon. This was appended 
to the Catholic epistles of St. Peter in the salutations. 

To investigate further this " vexata quaestio," we do not 
find a single early Father of the Church who asserts St. 
Peter's primacy or residence in Rome to be an established 
fact ; and in modern times, the writings of Marsilius of 
Padua disproved it, and as both Salmasius and Scaliger, 
" duo fulmina belli/' argued and wrote after sifting the evi- 
dence that St. Peter never was there, it may be conceded that 
there is no proved foundation for this accommodating tradi- 



380 

tion. Should the pretended seat of St. Peter be styled that of 
St. Paul it would be more in accordance with genuine 
history. St Paul founded' the first Christian Church in 
Home, not St. Peter, " for he would not build on another 
man's foundation/' and the oldest Church in Rome was 
dedicated to the former saint, who was the Apostle of the 
Gentiles, as contradistinguished from St. Peter, who was 
the Apostle of the circumcision. These investigations 
impeach not the cause, as all the apostles had the same 
commission with parity of honour and power. It is of no 
consequence to Christianity about St. Peter's advent to 
Rome, or his martyrdom there, which no historian has 
proved. But if so much stress has been placed on the bodily 
presence of St. Peter in Rome, and that a Church partially 
relies for its credit on that allegation, it is not hypercritical 
to require better and fuller evidence, or any unreasonable 
incredulity to doubt it, if adequate testimony is not adduced. 
— Great facts exact great proofs — and these remarks im- 
pugn no dogma of any Church, but merely the assertion 
that St. Peter was ever in Rome, and was there crucified — 
that he suffered elsewhere is certain, because he was to 
suffer according to the Scriptures. 

Not Vatican doctrine or allegations alone should ob- 
tain, but facts of even minor importance, for truth's sake, 
should be stated. There is no secret in the moral or 
natural world, or deed sacred from the investigations of 
men ; even conjecture can never be too free, if it be proved 
to be just. So, let us say, without fear of animadversion, 
in the search after truth, essential or contingent — 
" Seize upon truth where'er 'tis found ; 

Amid your friends, amid your foes, 
In Christian or in Pagan ground, 

That flower's divine where'er it grows." 
Dr. Watts. 



381 



On Longevity. 



As there has been much controversy relative to time, so 
has there been much question with respect to the ages of 
men. It has been thought to credit the relation of the 
long lives of the Patriarchs that one of our years was 
equivalent to 10 of theirs. So that a person said to live 
800 years, in reality attained no more than 80. But the 
length of the year, according to Moses' computation and 
the old Hebrews, (for the Septuagint is held to have mul- 
tiplied the patriarchal years) there is no doubt but that 
from the time of Noah it consisted of 12 months of 31 
days, the proof of which appears in the particular account 
of the days of that year wherein the deluge happened, as 
given by Moses. So when Moses says the ages were so 
many, it must be credited, because he must have meant 
years of 12 months. All nature is marvellous, and this 
long lasting in mortals is only another natural miracle. — 
Since which period, the necessity subsiding, nature has 
observed a certain gradation in reducing the life of man to 
a level with our times. Homer recognized the difference 
in the men of his day, and those anterior to him, and 
averred there then was inequalityin strength and longevity; 
and it was not till Solon's time that the term of life was 
threescore years and ten. Moses lived 120 years, and 
Solomon only JO; and though there be exceptions, in 
Jenkins reaching 1G9, and old Parr that of 152, the com- 
mon limit is 70 years, Oloi vvv tsporoi elai. — Homer. 

The space allotted to man for his sublunary existence is 
now threescore years and ten — or some 30 years to each 
generation, about 3 generations to 100 years. As the 
Patriarch Methuselah attained 9G9 years, he lived more 



382 

than 32 generations, or nearly a thousand years. So that 
in 1656, the antediluvian populousness must have been ex- 
cessive, for in warm climates fecundity is great, and early 
marriages the law ; and women of course had correspond- 
ing physical properties with men, hence they continued to 
increase and multiply for some three centuries at least. 

Longevity began to abate in the time of the patriarch 
Abraham, who was only 175 years old at his decease. He 
was then in extreme age, a short period as compared with 
his antecessors, whether in direct or collateral degree in 
their several divergent branches. His son Isaac was born 
to him when he had touched a century, and " both his pa- 
rents were old and well stricken in years," his wife Sarah 
being just ten years his junior, to whom also the promise 
was passed that she should be a Mother of Nations. 

Now the Patriarch and his wife were astonished at the 
promise and the prospect of offspring, (for she had not 
borne children hitherto), which proves the fact of their 
feeling that senility had overtaken them. Had this not 
been so Sarah might have expected or lived in hope of 
issue until she had reached 200 years more, if, ceteris 
paribus, the reasonable surmise be true that women were 
on a physical parity with men, as in these our days, who, 
as Lord Bacon observes, are in reality the ancients. 

Holy Writ has not declared the age of any female what- 
ever at her decease, except Sarah who reached 127 years, 
(Gen. xxiii. 1) — nor is it probable that any woman outlived 
the longest lived man. Man evidently has the superio- 
rity, for what woman was ever so old as Methuselah, so 
strong as Samson, or so wise as Solomon ? Woman was 
a second and subordinate creation, an emanation or de- 
velopment from the first of men, Adam, who was the son 
of God — which establishes man's divine descent. 

Some compensation, however, is accorded to Woman, 
who may be allowed generally to excel her fellow Man in 



383 

virtue, as appear in the many instances of devotion, purity 
and love embalmed in Holy Writ, down to the time of that 
incomparable exemplar of her sex, " Bless' d Mary, second 
Eve." 

The Jews are more numerous now than in Solomon's 
days (4,500,000) ; at first they were only a family of 70 
persons, which produced in 215 years some two millions, 
and population increased till they were carried away cap- 
tive, and many tribes never returned from Chaldsea. The 
Assyrians sent colonies to re-people Samaria. The Hin- 
doos were a nation of philosophers. Gentoo means animal 
in the abstract. Budha is said to have died 600 b. c, and 
an entire third of the globe, whose population is 1000 
millions, is Budhist. 

Perhaps the most long-lived family of modern record is 
that of Parr. Nature always balances excess of age in 
3 or 4 descents, so that the sum of each shall not exceed 
the prescribed limit of 70 years. We have authenticated 
proof of the longevity of Parr, who died in 1635, at the 
prodigious age of 152, yet Henry. Jenkins surpassed him 
by 17 years, and died 1670> but little is known of his family, 
or to support the allegation relative to his great age. The 
son of Parr died aged 113 ; his grandson at the age of 109, 
and his son again, one Robert Parr, died in 1757, at the 
advanced age of 124; all these dates have been verified. 
The common progenitor of this patriarchal race was a 
husbandman of Winnington in Salop, temp. Henry VII. 
It is probable that all families in turn enjoy the various 
gifts of ability, longevity, strength, and beauty — may we 
add virtue ? 

Some incredible instances of longevity are recorded in 
Sir John Sinclair's code of health, which exact uncommon 
testimony in confirmation, in the ratio of their improba- 
bility. 

The Greeks gave some 35 to 40 years for a reign, but 



3*84 

experience has shewn that 1 8 to 20 would suffice in modern 
times. A consecutive series of 30 kings of France lived 
1427 years, which is 474 years for each potentate. 

A calculation was made that 30 literary men lived 1919 
years, which is 64 years a piece. 

In the antique list of Athenian kings there is not a 
single case of a minority, and only two cases in the entire 
list of Spartan sovereigns. 

Life assurance has become so necessary that actuaries of 
the present day have discovered to a nicety the probable 
duration of life under all its phases; and as tables of 
assurance are in process of alteration and amendment, so 
in the next century improvements may be made of which 
we have imperfect anticipations : and as the necessity of 
assuring lives strengthens, so the effect of accurate data, 
increased premiums, and novel policies for all conditions 
and contingencies, and diminished requirements may en- 
hance the character and comforts of our social state, while 
we hover on the narrow isthmus between time and eternity. 

In the 16th century the average of literary life was 64 
years, at which it appears to remain stationary. The 
general lives of the aristocracy are computed at 67 years, 
which is partly owing to good diet and immediate atten- 
tions, medical and personal, in case of need, joined to the 
otium cum dignitate, which is their portion in a cold and 
crooked world of sorrow and inequality. The gentry average 
some 70 years, and the learned professions, as contradistin- 
guished from mere literary existence and those who have 
wooed what has facetiously been termed the three black 
Graces, Law, Physic, and Divinity, attain some 68 to 70 
years. The dangerous lives of military and naval officers is 
on a lower grade, but very little. 

Fine arts seem rather less, something between 60 and 
70 ; and trade obnoxious to strain of mind and body, 
with carhing care, is slightly below the age of man. 



385 

Marriage, as it is more natural, so it is more favourable to 
longevity, being some 67 years, which presents a premium 
as contrasted with unmarried life ; the latter is reduced by 
a year or two only. I remember the age of no woman being 
recorded in Holy Writ, save Sarah, and very few among 
them in Pagan chronicles. Pliny the elder has a brief 
chapter on the duration of existence, and he cites Hesiod, 
as first inviting attention to the subject ; but he concludes 
that his statements of longevity are fabulous. Subse- 
quently Anacreon is made to assert that a king of the 
Tartessians reached 150 years ; another of Cyprus 160, 
and a worthy styled Egimidius rose to 200 long years. 
Theopompus avers that Epimenides of Gnossus lived 157 
years ; and one ancient reached 300 ; and another, a cer- 
tain Dando, 500 years, incredibile dictu. 

Xenophon asserts a certain king of the Tyrians lived 600, 
and his son drifted on to 800 years ! But these supposi- 
tions were too much for Pliny, who shrewdly puts the ages 
to the score of myths ; because, he adds, they knew not how 
to compute time, not making 365 days to each year, and 
calling seasons years, and adopting other chronological 
fallacies. It is very likely that as the history of the flood 
was transmitted, so there came with it traditions of lon- 
gevity. The oldest instance of length of years cited by 
Pliny is 120, and modern statistics countenance the 
verisimilitude. 

The share women have in this gift of nature is not 
pretermitted by Pliny, who however cites few examples in 
the gentler sex. He recapitulates seven cases : — Livia, 
wife of Rutilius, reached 97 ; the Lady Statilia, 99 ; Te- 
rentia, the once beloved wife of Cicero the orator (who 
said he would cause his name to transcend that of any of 
the Patrician families), despite her untowardness reached 
103; Clodia, wife of Ofilius, was 115, and had given 

2 c 



386 

birth to fifteen children, so that fecundity is no bar to 
longevity. He also quotes a case of strength, activity, and 
age, uniting in Lucceia, who declaimed on the stage at 
100. Another histrionic worthy enacted her parts most 
creditably at 104, having made her debut 91 years prior 
to this appearance, and in such repute was she, that 
Pompey the Great, on dedicating his famous theatre at 
Rome, invited this time-honoured daughter of Thespis to 
give eclat to the inauguration. One Sammula also lived 
110 years, and here the record of Pliny stops. 

It seems that with the Romans there did exist some 
kind of registers to verify ages, and it is thought that 
temp. Vespasian, the taxing afforded an authentic means 
of ascertaining these facts; but it is presumable that 
accuracy was very remote from a practice, which to realize 
has cost moderns so much pains ; for our parish registers 
date not earlier than some 1538, and as so many are lost 
and are so ill written, and have been so disregarded, that 
" etiam periSre ruince," what are left are often difficult of 
decyphering, though a very current calligraphy charac- 
terises many of these parchment annals of rich and poor, 
reinforcing the fact, c ' omnes eodem cogimur," by inevitable 
fate. 

Subsequent to the Deluge ages were reduced to some 
500 years, or nearly half the original gift to man. This 
span gradually decreased until 100 years was considered 
old, and thus " small by degrees and beautifully less," we 
declined to 70 or thereabouts, which seems tine juste milieu 
for the world's population. 

Modern times can boast its longevity, and though the 
allegation that a Negress who died 1780, attained 157 
years, and the noted Countess of Desmond 140, and many 
others with similar blessings, yet sufficient corroborative 
evidence has not been adduced to justify our annexing 



387 

these extended instances of longevity to the Book of 
Truth. The longest life of man is short, but a good 
death and its antecedents render it immortal. 

If our progenitors lived so long, we ought to live 
longer, should there be vitality in care, in skill, moral obli - 
gation and experience. The secret of longevity is in 
sustaining the vital functions in healthy action, with the 
least indispensable stimulus — all unnecessary waste of vital 
power is culpable improvidence, precipitating death and 
pain, death's harbinger. Contraries beget contraries, for 
it is known that bodily pain when excessive, terminates 
in pleasure. Martyrs who have writhed in fire, and have 
suffered the pitiless tortures of the rack, as applied in the 
antichristian Inquisition, have experienced reaction, so that 
a thrill of delight has succeeded to intolerable mental and 
physical anguish. Events prove that this remorseless 
Inquisition has existed in "Rome, the soi-disant capital of 
Christianity and mercy, as well as in Naples, in 1860, and 
the letters of Lord Lanover, from Naples, have confirmed 
all that Mr. Gladstone averred some years ago, relative 
to the prisons, while revelations from the Roman States 
of Bologna, implicate the Papal authorities in similar 
cruelties. 

It has been affirmed that female is of longer duration 
than male life. There seems no reason why this anomaly 
should exist, either socially or physically, and as men 
have generally the advantage of the tender sex in strength 
of mind and body, it may be a paradox, unless their 
general tranquillity and benevolence, which is the epitome 
of all virtue and religion, contribute to this end. British 
tables have a tendency to support this hypothesis. Women 
come to maturity and loveliness sooner, which seems 
a beneficent interposition to give them a full and early 
scope to display those fascinating graces and engaging 
sweet influences which nature has designed to counter- 



388 

balance the power and energy of the males, through- 
out the tide of time, 

For time, tho' in eternity applied 

To motion, measures all things durable, 

By present, past and future. 

Milton. 

Sublunary creation is a system of antagonism and must 
cease — it is motion and perception. Life is development 
as well as creation. Dr. Kennedy remarks we are con- 
scious of time by our senses, but eternity appeals to the 
inner thought or mind. It is given in the idea of a Being 
without beginning or end, which includes in its duration 
the infinite past and the infinite future. Time is a mode 
or condition by which the human mind perceives the flux 
of events, and is made up of a series of events. Eternity 
has no events. Time was given to man for repentance, 
and eternity for forgiveness — so Time and Eternity will 
reign together, when the last enemy shall be subdued — 
that, Being and the cause of existence — the " I am," may 
be all in all. 



FINIS. 



G. NORMAN, PRINTER, MAIDEN LANE, COVENT GARDEN. 



